“In a society that believes in nothing, fear becomes the only agenda… a society that believes in nothing is particularly frightened by people who believe in anything, and therefore we label those people as fundamentalists or fanatics… and they have much greater purchase in terms of the fear that they instil in society, than they truly deserve.”

I have finally finished watching the excellent – outstandingly excellent – BBC documentary ‘The Power of Nightmares’. Available, thanks to the generosity of Chris Locke here. Be warned – it is three hours long. But if you haven’t watched it, it would be fair to say that, unless you’re already in an exceptionally well-informed position, you don’t understand the nature of the present world.

And all I kept thinking about was this fact: the single command repeated more often than any other in the Bible is: DO NOT BE AFRAID.

Because if you succumb to fear, then the prince of this world will rule over you.

(Forgot to add: Wendell Berry on this topic) (HT Andrew Sherwood)