The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, recently said this:"Religion is a matter of the collective mentality, with all that this implies about having to take responsibility for corporately-held teaching and discipline: so religious allegiance can be seen as making over some aspect of myself to others in ways that may compromise both my liberty and integrity".
It got me thinking. What value do I place on my own liberty: the freedom to make choices governing my behaviour, spending, future plans and current plans? And if I partake in a collective mentality do I exclude myself from making decisions about myself, absconding, if you please, from personal responsibility?
I don't think this is what Rowan is saying. I can be, and am, at once responsible and culpable for the decisions I make in my own life whilst also, sacrificing some of my liberty for the sake of living communally. That's the beauty of this adventure. It requires an understanding of the cost, agreements about what those corporate values and behaviours are and much patience as we work out what this means in reality. But we fall down together and rise together. At least that's the hope.
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