Ongoing 'International Disorder' and the role of religions

ANALYSIS COMMENTARY

- BY LYNN OCKERSZ

It was left to that great English poet of the late eighteenth century, William Blake, to pinpoint how formal or organized religion promotes social ills by turning a blind eye on them. Blake's disturbingly revealing poem titled 'London' does not flinch from exposing the horrors of the industrial age in Britain and to this day remains profoundly relevant for humankind.

From the viewpoint of Blake's expose of the ills of his age stanza three of 'London' is particularly important. Focusing on the Church's hypocrisy and inactivity on the question of helping to redeem the sad lot of persons such as chimney sweepers and soldiers, who were way down the social ladder, Blake writes:

'How the Chimney-sweeper's cry, Every blackning Church appalls, And the hapless Soldier's sigh, Runs in blood down Palace walls.'

Expressed summarily, the essential meaning of this stanza is as follows: the deplorable socio-economic condition of the chimney sweeper shames or 'appalls' the Church, on account of the latter's complacency and lack of social commitment to relieve the burdens of the poor. The same applies to the ruling class or 'Palace' that could not care less about the soldier who is compelled to sell his services to the state and to die for it. The poem on the whole is an indictment of the powerful in society.

However, by extension it could be said that the 'Church' referred to stands for all formal religions everywhere and in all times that do nothing to alleviate the lot of the powerless in their midst. For example, are the foremost religions of the world doing anything positive and substantive to mitigate the lot of civilians suffering inexorably in the war and conflict zones of today's world? This question cannot be answered in the affirmative unfortunately.