Reflecting on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Bishop David shared this Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4 on Monday, 23rd June 2025.
Good morning
Direct American involvement, bombing nuclear sites across Iran, takes the Middle East conflict up to a whole new level. Over the airwaves and on the internet, military, economic and political commentators are barely into their second day of striving to guess what will, or what should, come next. Wherever our personal views might incline, we can expect to find voices both reflecting and rejecting our take.
Much of course depends on where individual interests lie. Were I a citizen of Israel, whether or not in support of the Gaza conflict, I might be relieved that a dangerous enemy, one publicly committed to the destruction of my country and its people, now seems far less likely to be able, at least in the near future, to unleash a nuclear attack. Were I sitting in a central US state, a family member stationed with American forces on a ship or base within reach of Iranian retaliation, my first thought might well be of how this puts their lives in jeopardy. The regime in Iran denounces it as a violation of international law. However, for the large Iranian Christian diaspora in my city of Manchester, who both love their country and detest its current government, hopes and fears, not least for loved ones still in country, will intermingle.
Yet, whilst personal perspective matters, many religions, including my own, seek to overlay that with a call to put ourselves in others’ shoes, however hard that may be. It’s exemplified for me in the teaching of Jesus to love our neighbours as ourselves. Yet, it reaches its zenith in the very person of Jesus himself. For thirty years, from his birth to his execution, God has made the effort to see the world, not from a throne in heaven, but through human eyes.
To me, the greatest shadow cast over human affairs in this present era is not the risk of nuclear war, it is the increasing unwillingness of political leaders and their regimes to see other than through the spectacles of immediate and narrow self interest. The names and the flags may have changed since the nineteenth century, but I fear we increasingly live in an age of expanding empires, some political, others corporate, each unable to look beyond maximising its territory, wealth and power.
I confess it grieves me deeply how often the very religions that should be committed to fostering a wider viewpoint, too readily line up behind the dominant forces of the empires they rely on to flourish. Yet despite this, the example of Jesus still spurs me on. If I can do nothing else today, I will at least try to see the world through many and varied eyes.