Afternoon 2: Reconciliation not Retribution

I was probably 9 or 10 when I first read (probably in Look and Learn) about Coventry Cathedral and how, despite the city and the cathedral itself being firebombed to the ground in 1941, the cathedral had become internationally renowned for its peace efforts. Scroll forward a few years to late teens spent in the shadow of the Vietnam war and the naivety of John Lennon politics and Coventry Cathedral became a place I had always wanted to pilgrimage to. Something that become even more of a priority after visiting Dresden a couple of years ago.

It's taken more than 50 years to get here!

The remains of the old cathedral are poignant and the statues evocative. A very moving experience.

The new building is all about light

And modernity

Although even here there are echoes of the past

Now I know this is a house of God, and a house of Christian worship but I couldn't but help thinking that an opportunity had been missed. Everywhere were the inevitable Bible quotes but wouldn't it have been wonderful if these could have been toned down and, in many places, replaced by simple, non-denominational, non-religious messages of peace. To bring people of all faiths and none to a common goal of reconciliation rather than retribution.

All we are saying, is "Give peace a chance"