Getting to the heart of safeguarding

Category: Let justice roll

  • Satyagraha – A forgotten stream of true spirituality

    Satyagraha – A forgotten stream of true spirituality

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    by

    Peter Sidebotham
    in ,

    Last week Lois and I watched the film Suffragette: an extremely powerful portrayal of one woman’s part in the non-violent struggle for women’s rights; and, interestingly, a pertinent exploration of the parallel processes of alienation and grooming that accompany any form of radicalisation. The main (fictional) character, Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan), gradually finds the courage…

  • Re-imagine

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    by

    Peter Sidebotham
    in

    Are you willing to take a step of faith, and re-imagine how God wants to work in and through you? Are you prepared to step out of your comfort zone? Will you allow the poor to be your teacher? How about joining a Servants internship in a slum community in Northern India next summer? Click here…

  • A Raja of the Road

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    by

    Peter Sidebotham
    in ,

    Balvinder Singh, son of Punjab Singh, Prince of Taxi Drivers, may your moustache never grow grey! Nor your liver cave in with cirrhosis. Nor your precious Hindustan Ambassador ever again crumple in a collision – like the one we had with the van carrying Mongo Frooty Drink. Although during my first year in Delhi I…

  • The pounding waves

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    by

    Peter Sidebotham
    in

      For me, sitting relaxed in a beach-front café, watching the sun set over the Indian Ocean, the fishing boats setting out for the night present an idyllic scene: life in all its richness, there for all to enjoy. For the stripped-down men, battling their way against the incessant, pounding waves, the reality is so,…

  • Beautiful Morality

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    by

    Peter Sidebotham
    in , ,

    In his book, Eager to Love (I am only part way through, but this is fast becoming my number one book of the year), Richard Rohr explores what he refers to as ‘beautiful morality’ in the lives of St Francis and St Clare. In contrast to much of the religiosity of their day (and ours)…

  • Maslow’s Fallacy and a Community Right to Beauty

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    by

    Peter Sidebotham
    in

    Beauty is at the heart of what it means to create a just society… It is central to who we are.

  • Dear Pope Francis

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    by

    Peter Sidebotham
    in

    I may not, strictly speaking, count myself one of your ‘flock’. Nevertheless, I thought I would write a response to your recent Encyclical Letter, Laudato Si’[1]. I do this for three reasons: first, because you have addressed this Encyclical not just to members of the Roman Catholic Church, but to ‘every living person on the…

  • Going Green

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    by

    Peter Sidebotham
    in

    Frustrated by the outcome of the general election, the apparent pervasiveness of what comes across as an inward-looking, focus on ‘what’s best for me’ in our society, and the gradual merging of the main political parties into a somewhat right-of-centre common ground, I decided this week to join the Green Party. Having spent some time…

  • Pride

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    by

    Peter Sidebotham
    in

    Yesterday, Lois and I watched Pride (BBC Films, 2014), a truly inspirational film which I would highly recommend (thank you Kevin Finnan for your recommendation). A small minority group, hated and victimised, struggling with their own weaknesses and infighting, choose, in spite of that, to look beyond their own problems to recognise and do something…

  • On the eve of the general election

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    by

    Peter Sidebotham
    in

    On the eve of the general election I find myself increasingly exercised by the issues of justice that are at stake here. This election isn’t just about who we would like to govern our country, it is about how we, as a country, and the people who govern us, treat our fellow-citizens, particularly the most…