Easter Sunday
18 April 2022
With Spring heading in, there is a sense of renewal – blooming forth from the austere and established lines and corners of church and state. I’ve never been inside – and yet I love having the church there. It’s bells on Sundays punctuate the week, providing structure and rhythm to a reality that would otherwise just be a chaotic mishmash. I’ve been thinking a lot about the social utility of organized, institutional religion – for my sci-fi – but also in life generally. I am aware of all the vices and excesses. I know how close the risk of fundamentalism and fanaticism always follows any belief system. I am well aware how very often religious power was used to corrupt, to entrench injustice, to counter progress, to subvert humanity, to build a likeness of what is in heaven and to worship that…
And still, provided they have been domesticated and their fangs have been removed, I want churches around.
As for God… that is a mystery I won’t make a fool of myself commenting on.

Peter van der Walt is a fiction author, although you may find some non-fiction and the odd essay out there. Fans can find his newsletter, posts, updates and developments at petervanderwalt.com. Currently, he is hard at work on his next story. When not writing, he has far too many interests to reasonably keep up with. He lives with his partner in Devon, England.