Assembly address – Friday 6 September 2024
One of the most thought-provoking questions ever asked comes from the Gospel of St
John when Pontius Pilate, interrogating Jesus just before sentencing him to death, asks
What is truth? . I am not sure that Pilate really knew what he was asking although his
instincts probably told him that he was standing in the presence of someone we might
think of as Awe-some . Elsewhere in the Gospel Jesus describes himself as The Way,
The Truth and The Life.
Why does the search for truth even matter? Does truth even exist as a concept and if it
does why should we, as students in a school, be interested in it? In what was is truth
relevant to our lives today? And how can we know for certain whether something is true
or not?
It might be helpful to distinguish between facts and truths (or the truth). A fact is an
indisputable, concrete reality. Facts are not decided by how many people believe in
them. Our role is to acknowledge and learn about facts not to create them. On a basic
level, in mathematics, 2 + 2 = 4; 10 – 9 = 1; 3 x 3 = 9. In science water consists of two
hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H2O). In physics the average gravitational pull is
9.8 metres per second squared.
Truths can be based on facts but also demand elements of trust and belief. Truths often
contain facts and if they don t then we may will question their validity. It is true that the
sun rises in the east and sets in the west, that the earth has one moon, and indeed that
the earth is round and not flat.
Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between facts and truths. We know that William the
Conqueror defeated Harold Godwineson in 1066 although the details, as shown in the
Bayeux Tapestry, are open to dispute. Was Harold really shot in the eye with an arrow or
was that part of a Norman propaganda campaign promoting their victory over the
English? And even if the facts were different does that really matter? William I
established his dynasty and set about replacing Saxon rule with Norman rule. The truth
is that the victors in any battle get to control the narrative.
The study of history is a complicated business whereby historians try to work out why
things happened – the causes of something – in the hope of getting to the truth. There
would be no purpose, I think, in studying the past if you did not believe there was such a
thing as getting to the truth . This necessarily involves controversy because historians,
just like economists, will often disagree with each other about the importance of things.
To give a very recent example, did the Labour Party win the General Election because of
the popularity of Sir Keir Starmer or was it the Conservatives that lost because of their
unpopularity?
At times historical discussions can be ferocious. Let s take, for example, the British
Empire. Was it an evil organisation that oppressed racial minorities and encouraged
slavery? Was its purpose to steal treasures such as the Kohinoor Diamond and the Elgin
Marbles, to plunder the wealth from the countries that had been conquered?
It is a fact that Lord Elgin acquired the Elgin Marbles, which he transported to the Britain
(eventually finding their home in the British Museum) but it is less well known that he
first obtained the authority to do so by the ruling power, the Ottomans. Had the
Parthenon sculptures not been transported back to England they most likely would have
been lost forever. Was Elgin a thief or a hero?
The story of British India is complicated. The British took control almost by accident
rather than design; and they did so amidst unrest and near-total collapse in Mughal
governance. The British East India Company, first and foremost, was interested in trade
– spices and textiles and tea – but ended up being sucked into political conflict. Many
local rulers (Indian princes) actively sided with the British in the belief that they would
restore order on chaos. India s system of government, education, infrastructure (such
as railways and telegraphs), legal code is all derived from British rule. India became a
united country as a result of British rule. India eventually won her independence in
1947, an ambition first discussed by British officials as far back as 1880. A new political
elite, mostly educated at Oxford and Cambridge, were in a position to take over the reins
and India has flourished ever since.
We often read in the media about the urgency of decolonising the school curriculum.
Some argue that the British government should pay reparations or compensation to
those descended from slaves. What do the historical facts tell us? That certainly in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the British routinely engaged in the purchase and
transportation of slaves from West Africa to the Caribbean. As did the French and the
Portuguese and the Spanish to their colonies in south America. As did the Ottoman
Empire where slaves were treated with cruelty beyond compare.
In the time before the Industrial Revolution (that is before 1750) every empire that
existed relied on slaves for construction and an essential part of the the economy. The
Pyramids in ancient Egypt, the Parthenon in ancient Greece, Roman basilicas,
bathhouses, and Temples, the wonders of Constantinople and the romantic image of
the Taj Mahal all came into being because of slave labour.
The movement against slavery and the slave trade originated in Britain in the early 1800s
amongst Protestant Evangelicals such as William Wilberforce and Peter Peckard – who
had strong connections with Cambridge. And it was the British Parliament in 1807 and
1833 that led the world in abolishing the slave trade and slavery – at very considerable
cost to the British economy. The British navy then set about policing the south Atlantic
to stop piracy and doing their best to intercept Spanish and Portuguese vessels still
being used to transport slaves.
Am I putting a defence of the British empire? No but I am trying to convey the full story –
a truer story that looks at evidence in the round. I don’t believe the study of the past can
be reduced to ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’; that is the stuff of Luke Skywalker and Darth
Vader. The past is another country and when we journey there we should leave our
prejudices and assumptions behind. I don’t believe the purpose of history is to pass
judgment on people who lived in very different times to our own. We ought to remember
that one day perhaps in twenty or thirty years’ time people will look back and cast doubt
on the age in which we live. Perhaps they will see our civilisation as corrupt and wicked?
What do all these reflections mean for you as pupils of St Anthony’s? In a sense our
business here collectively, teachers and pupils alike, is to search for truth and to
maintain an open, questioning mind in order to receive it. Knowing facts helps us on our
way but so too must come reflection and good judgment. That means seeing the bigger
picture and recognising that most people are a jumble of different things – vices as well
as virtues.
It is not right to look back to the past to justify a particular theory that may be in fashion
today. When I was at school children were taught about the importance of serving
others before self, being patriotic, self-discipline and resilience. It was widely
understood that a man, as husband and father was the head of his family whilst a
woman, as wife and mother, was the heart of the family. Corporal punishment was still
practised (until 1986) and the teacher’s word was law. If I grumbled about a teacher
who punished me my mother would invariably side with the teacher and impose an
additional punishment (I soon learned to keep quiet!) I had a strict bed-time (with lights
out) until Year 10 – set at 9:30 pm. Going to Mass on Sundays and saying my prayers was
compulsory. It all seems very old fashioned.
There is lots there for psychiatrists and psychologists to comment on. But what of the
experience of people today? Are young people happier today than they were forty years
ago? All the evidence suggests that freedom and liberty enjoyed in society today has led
to unhappiness and discontent. In the west we have never been materially so rich and
yet spiritually so impoverished, As a society we have given up believing in God and
religion but, as GK Chesterton once noted, believe in almost anything else (including
biological impossibilities). There is a denial of reality and some reject the notion that
truth even exists.
Meghan Markle, Prince Harry’s wife, talked in an Interview recently about the
importance of telling ‘her truth’ which I think meant giving her personal opinion. She
was boiling truth down to her‘lived experience’ and ‘feelings’. But this is not the truth
that we seek for in our studies and personal lives. Sometimes the truth may well be
painful and difficult to endure. But better that than living in blissful ignorance. The truth
will set you free but only if it’s the sort that just isn’t inside your head.
You will get to the truth by asking questions, gaining knowledge and trusting your
instincts. Our search, ultimately, is not for things of this world but of the world beyond.
St Augustine sums this up perfectly when he writes:
‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You’
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