One of the biggest problems with our modern age is that we
somehow find that fun and faith tend to be polar opposites. You can either be a
“God Fearing” person or you can have “Fun.” Perhaps its something of a
misconception but somehow the things in life that are fun are often the things
that most people of faith disapprove of. Take, for example, alcohol. While
Jesus did turn wine into water, there is no religious text that I know of (and
I’ll be happy to stand corrected) that actually blesses having drinks with your
mates. Sex, which is another one of nature’s great pleasures, is also governed
by this or that tenant.
I take the example of Saudi Arabia, a country that I have a
very good relationship with. Saudi Arabia positions itself as the centre of the
Islamic World. The only title that Saudi Kings have used is “Custodian of the
Two Holy Mosque” and at one stage Saudi Arabia took its role as “Custodian” of
Islam’s two holiest sites so seriously that it had a reputation of being the
opposite of fun. Saudi Arabia famously banned alcohol, stoned female adulterers
and amputated thieves for the simple reason that these were the exact words of
the Holy Book. Saudi Arabia was so “un-fun” that other places in the region, in
particular, Dubai built their entire economy on providing the Saudi’s with a
place where they could have fun.
Things have now changed under Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman
or MBS. Despite some of MBS’s less savoury associations such as the war in
Yemen and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, MBS gained something of a following
among Saudi Arabia’s growing youth. Why? MBS has started to make Saudi Arabia
fun. He’s curtailed the religious police and opened cinemas. While it’s not as
dramatic as building cities filled with robots, letting people “chill” in a
system where doing the things other people called “fun” was regarded as a mortal
sin, is in fact revolutionary. You can’t blame young Saudi’s for giving MBS kudos
for making their life more “fun,” whatever else he does.
I bring this example up because Christmas has just passed and
our cousins across the causeway have had the usual political dramatics of the “Islamic
Right.” You’ve had so called “Islamists” politicians of PAS going out of their
way to warn Malaysia’s normally “chilled-out” Muslims that celebrating
Christmas was Haram or forbidden. To be fair to the Muslims, my ex-wife was so
zealeous about being a Christian that she declared Santa Clause to be an agent
of the devil to make us forget Jesus.
Finally, the Sultan of Johor (The Malaysian State nearest
Singapore) had enough and it got around that he had said that if people felt so
strongly about not celebrating Christmas because it would undermine their
faith, they should jolly well go to work and not have a holiday.
That message made me think. I’m guilty about complaining
about the mass consumption that Christmas encourages and I feel the need to
remind people that Jesus is “God from the Gutter” who preferred the company of hookers
and leper to the holy men of his day. But having said all these things, I need
to ask – is it wrong to have fun?
OK, I don’t think religion should be “happy-clappy.” One of
my exes went to a church that kept beating the drum that following Jesus was
easy. I don’t buy that. If faith was that easy, it would be meaningless. Faith and
spiritual fulfilment has to be challenging in order for it to be meaningful.
God, as I’ve often said is not a real estate agent who hands out parcels of desert
at his whims nor is he a mix between your agony aunt and fairy godmother who
waves away your problems. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, “We’ve been
praying for thousands of years. If we meet Buddha or Jesus Christ, they’re
bound to say, we didn’t start the problem – you did – so solve it.”
While, I dislike the idea of “McGod” the happy aunt – I believe
that its wrong to separate God from Fun. It’s necessary to have a holiday and time
out from the miserable grind of daily life. Festivals, are not meant to be an
exclusive occasion. They’re meant to bring people together.
I remember the “Haji” (Muslim who had completed his Haj)
telling me, “The first religion is not Islam but Salaam – when we shake hands
and become friends.” The Jesus story may not be the most prominent one at Christmas
but if it creates an opportunity for people of different social and cultural
backgrounds to get together and chill out and reminds people that they are more
similar than they are different – then I say that you can’t get any more
Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Taoist or Parsi than that.
I hope everyone celebrated Christmas for all that it was
worth and I really hope everyone reading this makes it a point to celebrate
every religious festival for all that their worth. There is nothing closer to
God than chilling out and remembering the decency in the human race.
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