Easter, a time to reflect on the past and wonder about the future

EASTER is supposed to be a time in the Christian calendar when followers remember the sacrifice of Christ who died for the sins of the world and on Easter Sunday the Pope will be watched by hundreds of thousands around the world as he blesses the congregation at St Peter’s and gives a message of peace to all.

The concept of peace appears to be at the heart of every major religion, yet, since the death of Christ and the founding of both the Christian and Muslim faiths, there has been little indication that the followers of either religion understand the underlying message.

As we become more developed, then we are able to invent more powerful and widespread ways of killing each other and the latest atrocity in Brussels is just one example of the way in which indiscriminate killing is becoming the norm rather than the exception.

The very concept of terrorism depends on whose side you are on. Are the adherents of Daesh really terrorists or are they freedom fighters taking a just revenge over the Western powers who arbitrarily carved up the Middle East and caused many of the problems in the various artificial nations created there?

If the Nazis had won the Second World War then all of the partisans and underground Maquis who fought against them would be marked clearly as terrorists and let it not be forgotten that following the war, the first real act of terrorism was introduced by Irgun fighting for the freedom of Israel with the bombing of the British offices in the King David Hotel.

Easter is a time of reflection but not just about peace but the reality of the increasing spread of violence, be it with Iraq, Syria and Yemen where two groups of Muslims can’t even agree on where the prophet Ali should stand in the league of most important prophets or on the streets of Europe where everyone is a potential target.