Freedom

Bad news and hysteria sell newspapers, so only the bad news gets published. We only hear of the injustice and intolerance of other religions, while the people responsible for the media conveniently forget about the injustice and intolerance in our own society, and our own religions. Until Pope Urban II started the First Crusade in 1096, the Islamic and Christian communities in Palestine lived in complete harmony and tolerance; and the cause of the present antipathy between these two great Faiths can, I believe, be laid at the feet of Pope Urban.

Surely in the 21st century, we should be able to rise above those old petty bigotries, and the mindless hatred, narrow-mindedness, and misinformation that goes with them. Look at our civilisation today – we have walked on the Moon, our machines have flown to, and travelled on, other planets. Some of our machines have even left our solar system and are now sailing between the stars. We can speak to people on the other side of the world in an instant. Compare that with the early days of white settlement in Australia, when, if you posted a letter to England, the answer would take between 18 months to 2 years to get back to you! Now, more than ever, we have the opportunity and ability to reach instant understanding with our brothers and sisters who share this world with us and yet we still cling to those old ways of regarding other people with suspicion and distrust.

Spiritualism shows us, the way no other religion can, through the messages that we receive through our mediums and clairvoyants, that there is but one God, no matter what we choose to call Him; and Spiritualism shows us that we are all part of the one Brotherhood of Man.

Martin Luther King once said, “I have been to the mountain top…I have seen the Promised Land.” So have I. I have seen that Promised Land, as Dr. King described it, an oasis of freedom and justice, where all mankind will live in a world where people, “…will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character,” and I would add that in that world neither would people be judged by whatever God they worshipped.

“Let freedom ring!” Martin Luther King said, “Let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city!” That day of freedom from bigotry, intolerance, and misunderstanding is coming: Spirit messages have told us that. We may not see it, our children may not see it, but grandchildren or great-grandchildren will. If we work for it, by accepting other people’s beliefs, and their God-given right to self expression and worship, there will come that day when, to quote Dr. King once more, “…all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, (Christian and Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu) will be able to join hands and sing, in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”