When we are bothered and bewildered it is doubly important that our thinking and reflecting are courageous and honest. And in particular it is necessary to avoid two ‘quasi’ intellectual habits:

  • The assumption that it is possible to impose solutions on people as a method of rekindling hope. Virtuous behaviour cannot be enforced. Whilst people might be forced to behave well, virtuous behaviour, enforcement does not foster hope that can counter dismay.
  • The habit of thinking in terms of ‘them and us’: the raw theology of video gaming – that things get screwed up by the fact we’re people, leaves no room for distancing analyses that put the blame on some and ignore the culpability of others. Solzhenitsyn noted how the dividing line between good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being, and this reality allows for no exemption. Christian theology does not divide the world into ‘bad guys’ and ‘us’; rather we are all in need of a saviour

Bothered and Bewildered, Enacting Hope in Troubled Times

Ann Morisy, Continuum 2010 page 5