A rugby match was played between England and Ireland in Dublin, and Scottish referee Hamish McDougal found himself in a precarious situation.
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In the dying seconds, the Irish attempt a conversion goal to win, but they miss.
Hamish weighed his options: to lie and be popular and the possibility of the Irish buying him drinks to the wee hours, or tell the truth and be hated and possibly bashed by an angry mob. So, he dishonestly awarded the Irish the goal.
As the years passed Hamish felt more and more guilty. He worried about what would happen when he died and went to heaven. “”Will old St Peter let me in the gates?” he wondered.
Well, time went by and Hamish died and found himself walking towards the pearly gates. From a distance Hamish sees the old man at the gates, so he puts his head down in shame.
As Hamish gets to the gates he falls to his knees and says, “Oh St Peter, I’m sorry for that rugby game! I know the ball was wide!”
The old man at the gates says “Sure, I’m not St Peter! I’m St Patrick! And what do you mean the ball was wide? That was a goal! Come on in, Hamish!”
It might appear whatever faith St Patrick brought to Ireland, and many of us Irish descent Australians, has been undone by the scandals and evil actions of wicked “missionaries”.
Here in Australia, we are experiencing something similar to what is happening in Ireland: a growing disinterest, even distrust of all things relating to religion.
In Australia, this movement has been slowly galvanising for decades as we almost celebrate becoming one of the most secular countries in the world.
For Ireland, the movement has taken place much faster.
However, even the worst actions of the worst “missionaries” will permanently rob neither Ireland nor Australia of faith in the divine.
When a society divorces itself from religion it’s never permanent, and if that divorce takes place decidedly and swiftly, ironically the return to religion is also decisive and swift.
This may appear counter-intuitive, but a good example of this was the Roaring 20s; a better example is the French Revolution.
A current example of what I’m talking about here is taking place in Russia.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 gave rebirth to communism and, in particular, to their internationally disseminated view that there is no God.
This view was still strong in 1975 when a Soviet propaganda poster was ubiquitously displayed across the Soviet Union showing a drawing of Yuri Gagarin, the first human into outer space, dressed in communist red and the letters CCCP across his helmet (the Russian initials for the USSR).
Yuri is saluting us with a smile and telling us what he can see from up there via the words printed underneath him: “There is no God!” Below him are the falling towers and domes of churches and mosques, thanks to the progress of Soviet science.
Yuri died in 1968, aged only 34, but what would he say if he saw his once-godless country today?
As former director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor points out in his recent book Living With the Gods (2018), Russian state atheism is a thing of the past.
The Russia of 2018 defines itself loudly and proudly as Orthodox.
Even so, if history has taught us anything it has taught us that it tends to repeat itself. As unlikely as it currently appears in Australia, religion always returns.
Even President Vladimir Putin is publicly devout.
Add to this that the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, blown up on Joseph Stalin’s orders in 1931, has been meticulously rebuilt and you will notice the religious landscape of Russia has clearly reverted back to God.
The long march towards a secular Australia is far advanced and I fear it will continue to win ground in these coming years at an increasing rate.
Part of this has been motivated by sincere anger towards the hypocrisy and bad example of some believers.
Even so, if history has taught us anything it has taught us that it tends to repeat itself.
As unlikely as it currently appears in Australia, religion always returns.
It’s all our job to make sure it’s the good type, not the bad.
Twitter: @fatherbrendanelee
