3 Nov 2014

In this year in which we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, a quotation about the ‘common good’:

“The totalitarianism that leads to chains begins with the assumption that there is only one way of understanding the common good. Fascism is about wanting to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. It is a consequence of this assumption that if I think differently from you, then it must be because of error or wickedness. On the other hand, a pluralism that recognises many different ways – creative disharmony – is the best guarantor of healthy freedom.”

The Revd Dr Giles Fraser (The Church Times, 12/11/2010)

27 Oct 2014

In an address given soon after World War II, Einstein recognised that the world’s problems needed both scientific cooperation and spiritual understanding between nations:

“We are here to take counsel with each other. We must build spiritual and scientific bridges linking the nations of the world.”

Albert Einstein (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, October 1948)