Where have I been?

Regular visitors to this blog will have observed it has been a while since I posted again and the main reason for this is down to a lack of time - I am currently marking 17 peoples submission for section B of the Faith and Worship course as well as maintaining all the other activities I am involved in - this week is the week when I produce our bi monthly newsletter so again that is time consuming as well and of course I work full time.

I suppose a secondary reason but probably as important a reason is my disappointment with the continuing heated debate that seems to be going on across a number of blogs that I read and the tone of both the posts and comments being made.

I have always tried to recognise that other peoples views on any given topic may be different to my own and I try very hard to respect their right to hold such views. I may state my views and say that they are my views and while I respect your right to hold a different view I hope you will equally respect my right to do so.

It seems quite unfortunate to me that this is not happening within the Methodist blogosphere at the current time and having just spent some time reading posts and comments again I am very sad that the language has sunk to the type of thing I would expect to find in the playground at school and not from people I believe to be reasonably intellectual and certainly intelligent.

I have to admit that I do not feel I know enough about the situation in Israel and Palestine to comment in any depth on the issues and my reading of the blogs where these matters are being discussed has not helped me in any way to have a clearer picture.

While realising the importance of the topic being discussed I do wonder how useful it is to continue the discussion given that there seems to be little chance of an amicable resolution to the discussion where it appears that views are diametrically opposed and there seems to be no common ground where a solution may be forthcoming either in the situation in Israel or in the situation in the Methodist blogosphere.

I make no apologies for this particular post and while I realise it may attract some comment (or then again it may not) I really did think I needed to put my view on the situation and to perhaps ask for a little bit of peace and tranquility to return.