Nederlands Dagblad is a Dutch newspaper I read on the weekends. In today’s issue there was an interesting article, ‘Seculiere dans met Desmond Tutu’ (‘Seculare dance with Desmond Tutu’). Its author, Maurice Hoogendoorn, writes:
Secularized Holland reacts with spasms to public expressions of faith. But sometimes an exception is made for somebody. … The black Archbishop visited Holland. He speaks about (his faith in) God all the time. During official ceremonies he withdraws simply for a quarter in order to pray.
And despite this he makes everyone enthusiastic, notes Hoogendoorn. Not only our Queen coffered on him one of the highest orders of the country, but a football club made him its honorary member. In his address to students Tutu says that God has a plan for them:
He wants to use you in order to make the world as he would like it to be.
If these words were spoken by anyone else, they would meet mocking laughter. But since they were spoken by the most popular of all Anglican bishops, the reaction is deafening applause. But not only students react like that. When more than a year ago Loukas began his studies in Groningen, the person giving a tour of the library, pointing at the theological section, smiled ironically, which didn’t make it difficult to guess what she thought of theology and its presence at the university. The same University of Groningen gave Tutu an honorary doctorate during his last visit to the Netherlands, and Prof. Geurt-Henk van Kooten , who presided at the ceremony, talked among other things about positive contributions of religion to social life. What is it all about? Van Kooten explains it as follows:
Tutu’s faith is lived through, exemplary. He stands up for something and is genuine in it. This makes an impression. It is like that with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian. He died for his faith and still makes an impression on many people, while theologian Karl Barth is known virtually only to theologians. … Doctrine and life are one for him. He presents faith in an inclusive manner. He says for example: “All people are children of God and should live according to it.” In this way, however, he is also implicitly critical. In his Bible for children, a world bestseller, he writes that children should become God’s friends. So this is not uncritical inclusiveness.
Then Hoogendoorn quotes Catholic theologian Prof. Erik Borgman , with whom I cooperated years ago among other places in the Dominican Movement. Erik, intensely dealing with the relation between religion, culture and social life, said:
It is special in him that, like Martin Luther King, he uses religious language in a very secular way – so that it can reach wide audience. This is a skill that helps him.
From Maurice Hoogendoorn’s article comes a clear message: live your faith, don’t conceal it, be genuine, avoid empty platitudes, speak to everyone and not only to those who agree with you anyway, and you will be appreciated. However Erik Borgman warns also against exaggerated optimism, pointing at the instability of people’s attitude to religion, I think that it doesn’t question the conclusion I drew above. I think that it is worth pondering upon. When I was looking for an illustration to this post, I came across Archbishop’s photo with Queen Beatrix and suddenly realized that for over a year – that is since the tragic skiing accident of her son, prince Johan Friso, who has been in a coma since then – I haven’t seen our Queen laughing like that. I remembered a discussion I had on Facebook recently. Someone claimed then that Christians are usually so gloomy, sorrowful and stiff. How much can be achieved by one Christian who looks and behaves as a redeemed human being…
