Coffee Morning: Forgive me, Father...

Tomb raiders and tested faith!

Reliquaries in the Church of San Pedro, in Ayerbe, Spain. Photo: Pepe Bescos.

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What are kingdoms without justice? They're just gangs of bandits.

–Augustine, City of God (Book IV, Ch 4, pub. 426).

Last week I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak on the representations of hell and the devil throughout Christian history for HistFest at the British Library, alongside the inestimable Shafi Musaddique and chaired by the stupendously comical Iszi Lawrence. Our debate about whether we are in the “good” or “bad” place got me thinking—it got me thinking about religion in general and what happens to our faith when atrocities or corruption surface.

History has proven that problems lie with individuals rather than institutions, and that evil can be found in all places. Misbehaviour is not an inevitable personality trait of particular aspects of society or faiths. And yet, a recent survey found clergymen ranked only seventh in terms of the trustworthiness of professions. Over the twenty-four short years of the survey, the public's trust in ecclesiastics had dramatically plummeted. In its 2,000-year history, John Dickson decried, the Christian church has conjured far more than just an “image problem”.[i] Saints can be sinners, and vice versa—and one tenet of Christianity cannot be blamed for all wrongdoings.