My title comes from a 1972 Cliff Richard song; Living in Harmony. Here he performs it in December 1973 at the Royal Variety Performance. I could have chosen another 1972 song; A Thing Called Love by Johnny Cash. Well, you wouldn’t let go of love. Love is what you need for harmony 😀. Although if two blokes were fighting over a girl, maybe one could pull back for the sake of harmony 😀.
So, what would I let go of for the sake of harmony? That’s a very broad question. In any type of relationship, be it marriage, family, friends, churches, or society at large, we need to recognize that people have different views, approaches, moods or whatever.
We obviously need some rules and guidelines. For example, a church might have a statement of faith, outlining the fundamental core beliefs. And I’d imagine that most churches would expel members who behaved appallingly. But outside of that, opinions will differ. So, we shouldn’t insist that everyone adopt our precise beliefs and practices about everything. It’s the same with society at large.
I am pleased to live in a society where different religious points of view are tolerated. Ireland is largely Roman Catholic. I left that church when I became an evangelical Christian back in 1980. No-one has murdered me so far 😀. It wasn’t always like that in the Western world. Even within Christendom, many were persecuted and even executed for their faith. I’m just glad that I didn’t live under the reign of bloody Mary.
However, all that ended a long time ago. I would like to see such freedom across the whole world. CSGC (Center for the Study of Global Christianity) puts the number of Christians who die for their faith to around 90,000 annually. It’s not always easy to judge such figures. And we should be equally concerned about the persecution of people of other faiths.
Romans 12:18
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
One thing I wouldn’t do is abandon my faith for the sake of harmony. In John Lennon’s Imagine, he sang:
Imagine there's no heaven,
It isn't hard to do,
No hell below us,
And no religion too
We don’t need to eliminate religious belief for harmony. Some countries have attempted this, and they are hardly places that you’d want to live in. I don’t see any mass emigration to North Korea 😀. Other countries seek to control state churches to make them voice the opinions of the state or the leader. And then you get liberals who claim that all religions teach the same thing. It’s true that religions might have a lot in common, but we shouldn’t airbrush out any doctrine that someone else finds upsetting.
For example, if a person of another faith told me that I would go to hell if I don’t join their religion, I wouldn’t be offended or take that as an insult. I would just not agree with their opinion😀. In all likelihood, they’d like to save me from hell. However, if someone tried to spread their faith through violence and intimidation, that would upset me. And it would upset me if they persecuted someone from their own religion that chose another religion.
I do hope and pray that even if different religions don’t agree, they would all promote harmony. And I think that most of them do. You’ll always get nasty people who nominally attach themselves to religions. In the Northern Ireland conflict, which made the news almost every day from 1969 to 1998, you’d constantly hear of Protestants or Catholics being murdered by supposed Protestants or Catholics. But I wouldn’t imagine that many people would have regarded the murderers as true Christians.
Here are some secular songs that promote human harmony:
I don’t know how many of these artists are Christians, but it’s a delight to hear people singing about love, whatever their faith. Make Me a Channel of Your Peace is my favourite Christian hymn about love.
Hibernia Gospel 