Is community good or bad? Perhaps the first question is what constitutes a community? The people of Glasgow see themselves as a tribe, and comedian Billy Connolly is their icon, their leader. That didn’t stop massive protests directed at him when he did a sketch on the crucifixion.

Pensioner Community

Whether I like it or not, I am now counted in the pensioner tribe. What that means is that some people think I have time on my hands, that I am dying of boredom and idleness. Yet pensioners come as rich, or poor, or ill, and other than age, nothing really unites us. I meet people, not pensioners, and I do not see the old as a formal group.

Atheists

One community always gives me a smile; atheists. Not many people are brave enough to include themselves in this community. No wonder when some religions still advocate killing apostates. The religions don’t like backsliders, those people who reject the faith and yet don’t declare themselves as secular or atheists. In fact, would atheists actually be a community if the religious did not identify them? The great religions are intolerant of each other until, that is, they are united against those damned atheists who oppose such issues as faith schools.

Pagans

Zuri, in 2200 BC, was a pagan. That, of course, is not an atheist even though these ‘unbelievers’ are grouped together. Her Neolithic people too might have been intolerant of anyone who refuted that the gods, such as the Great Bear, had created their world. Her church was the temple of Stonehenge. They too venerated water, which must be familiar to anybody who has been baptised. I suspect that they also had rituals such as prayer or incantation. The religious and pagans, far from being opposed, have so much in common with their mythology that it is the atheists who find themselves isolated. Or does the religious community really fear being grouped with pagans? Ah, the joy of community!

Online Community

It seems that Saga no longer identify pensioners as such; we are older people enjoying life. As for me, with a blog I can now identify with an online community. Assuming anybody is reading this, of course.