I wouldn’t usually bother, however with this blog author I have the comfort of knowing my comments will be taken in the right spirit and interpreted intelligently. As I’ve intimated previously, my spiritual path is an earth-centred one, typically blending traditions from my ancestral background (think in terms of Cornwall, witches, Druids and so on).

Now the one thing that has surprised me as I have explored this path is a deeper understanding (and perhaps respect) for the core message of Christianity, and indeed pretty much all faiths and spiritual paths globally. The main problems are brought about by humans and relate to fundamentalism, fanaticism and blind faith (as opposed to faith with open eyes). I’m not just talking about Christians; there are people who bring these issues to bear in all religions, including those of a pagan inclination. In fact there are practising Pagans who have a huge chip on their shoulder about “the burning times”; while that was a terrible period of history, clinging onto these things does nobody any good (take a look at the Balkans, Ireland or the Middle East for examples of what happens if you hold on to ancient history).

Another thing I’ve noticed, and this IS more of a Christian thing, is the number of people (particularly Americans) who use their religion as a selling point for their business. While most of these are probably in the network marketing realm, I’ve seen the “Christian” selling point used for more traditional small businesses as well.

To be honest, my perspective is that spirituality is something of a personal matter and while identifying yourself as being aligned to one group or another is fine, using religion as a badge or banner in the ways described above is unhelpful and misses the point. If people could expend half the energy they use debating, argiung and trying to convince, on personal development and contributing to society, the world would be a much better place for everyone.

Keep up the good work with the blog!
Gary