Freedom of expression is one of the foundation stones of our society but so also is tolerance and respect for others’ viewpoints.
It’s not a time to antagonise; it’s a time to concentrate on fostering friendships across the cultures; indeed we are indebted in the UK to other cultures: imports, immigrants and refugees have added huge richness to our language, our culture, our way of life.
I’ve just started running a new course at Coventry Jesus Centre: ‘UK: a Mix of Cultures: Imports, Immigrants and Refugees'. As a teacher (I’m an ESOL teacher) I want to show my students there’s more than one side to every story, point the way out of negative mind-sets and stereo-typing and yes, most important, inspire – in this case, to inspire them that they too can make a positive contribution to UK life - like many others have done before them.
Did you know, for instance, that the Romans were responsible for bringing onions, garlic, cabbages, peas, celery, turnips, radishes and leeks to our shores ? And you, nation of coffee drinkers, remember that coffee came from Ethiopia. (The Arabic qahwa has become our ‘coffee’.) Arabs grew it in the 14th century. When you visit the chippie tonight for a real Brit meal remember it was actually refugees fleeing Portugal, France and Spain who brought fish and chips to England.
Last week we learned that about 13% of English words are of ancient Greece origin (including democracy) - and, no, democracy was not our invention. About half the words we use are Anglo-Saxon words – that means they originated from the northern European mainland, not our island.
William the Conqueror’s unwelcome invasion gave rise to 10,000 French words being introduced into our language and our towns, village, cities and rivers are named by foreigners, albeit
many of whom became settlers. ‘Thames’ is a Celtic word (the Celts coming from central Europe) for dark River.
11 refugees or children of refugees from the UK are Nobel Prize science winners. Refugees have made their impact on British life: Sigmund Freud (psychoanalyst), Joseph Conrad (writer), Michael Marks (founder of Marks and Spencers) to name but a few. We’ve looked at the life of Malala Yousafzai and Mo Farah and next week we’re going to read about Alec Issigonis (car designer) and Jacob Epstein (sculptor with connections to Coventry).
Social cohesion comes with respect, with listening, with learning from others; that’s certainly not the same as always agreeing and it doesn’t have to mean antagonising. Far from it.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers,’ those that bring peace, harmony between people, who foster understanding, listen and draw people together, not split them apart. In these divisive times, let’s look out and support those who are today’s peacemakers.
