The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2832 by Angharad Copyright© 2015 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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I won’t give too much detail of our Christmas except to say it was busy, hectic, frantic, bustling and completely mad. I missed having Julie and Phoebe here but they had arrived safely at their ski resort. Simon had paid for them to be kitted out in jackets and salopettes as their Christmas present, so between us they did quite well.

The lists of presents and food consumed embarrassed me when I consider the number of people sleeping rough or not eating well. We sent the various charities a hundred pounds each to help ease someone’s Christmas but it would be a drop in the ocean.

According to the latest research, youngsters are not half as compassionate as older folk when it comes to supporting charities, especially for the homeless. They seem to think people should sort themselves out without the handouts. I don’t know what the answer is but my kids are more likely to vote Conservative than I am.

I finally managed to get some time for me while the others were either sleeping off too much food, watching telly or fiddling with the latest gadget they got. I settled down with a book I’ve had for ages but hadn’t had time to read. I hoped it wasn’t going to be too demanding of my small brain. It’s called Beyond Belief by Elaine Pagels and it’s about the history of Christianity. She’s a professor of the history of religion at an American university and I’ve heard she writes very well as well as knowing her onions or whatever the religious equivalent is.

It appears to be a comparison of two gospels, that of John which is one of the canonical ones and that of Thomas, one of the Gnostic gospels found at Nag Hammadi. I read the gospel of Thomas when I was a student partly because it’s quite short, really just a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus, some of which seem timeless and universal, others I’m not so sure about, like any woman who becomes male can enter the Kingdom. Looks like I missed out then, so will half the earth’s population.

The gospel of John is the only one which states categorically that Jesus was god and Prof Pagels seems to think it might have been written to counter the influence of Thomas’ gospel which was gathering supporters.

The times were even more dangerous than now, especially for Christians, though they seemed to be queuing up to be martyred—sounds familiar with a different group in the Middle East this time round. While I find it astonishing that people are prepared to kill because of religion, part of me feels humbled that there are those who are prepared to die for their beliefs. No wonder we still fight wars.

Seems like a guy called Irenaeus who became bishop of what is now Lyons in France was one of the people responsible for the canonical gospels and what is actually in the New Testament, rejecting loads like the gospels of Thomas, Philip and Mary Magdalene. The early church was beset by factions all squabbling over all sorts of things and Irenaeus wanted to take control and follow the same beliefs. Apparently, it’s what the mainstream church follows now, the virgin birth, the resurrection and the son of god is god. As I can’t accept any of them, I’ll never be a Christian. It seems loads of modern Christians don’t believe them either but keep quiet about it, unlike the Gnostics who challenged many of these core beliefs and suggested they were allegories or psychical things—the resurrection being what happened when you were baptised you were reborn.

The book was fascinating and I was irritated to have to put it down but apparently it was time to eat again—I was still full from my Christmas dinner—which was absolutely delicious, David excelled himself and I enjoyed the prosecco we had as well, I was half waiting for Commissario Brunetti to enter demanding a glass.

To keep the peace I had a cuppa and mince pie but the girls tucked into sandwiches and salad. Simon was noticeable by his absence, I think the port did for him, either that or the brandy he and Tom had to finish off their dinners. I left them to it and travelled back to the second century in the Mediterranean area, I wanted nothing more than a couple of hours more reading about it. At the first opportunity I escaped back to my study and found my page.

I felt someone watching me and glanced up, it was Trish but she was looking at something the other side of the room. I couldn’t see anything. “What are you watching?” I asked her and for a moment she shuddered then recovered. “You okay?”

“Yes thank you, Mummy. I was watching the golden lady who visits us from time to time.”

“What does she want?” I was never quite sure how I felt about the Shekinah.

“She’s pleased about the book you’re reading but to her it’s modern history and she says not to believe all you read.”

I snorted, “Modern history—it’s up to sixteen hundred years ago. As for believing anything, who said I did?”

“She didn’t say you did just to be careful what you do believe. What are you reading, Mummy?”

I showed her the book. “Looks interesting can I read it later.”

I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate for a ten year old especially as she’d probably use it to outmanoeuvre the nuns in religious lessons. “We’ll see.”

“Okay, be like that.”

“Trish, don’t be so cheeky.”

“You started it, I only wanted to borrow your stupid book to read.”

“There are lots of big words you might not understand.”

“So, I’ll use the dictionary.”

This child has an answer for everything.

“If you promise not to use what you read in it to upset the nuns at school.”

“Course I will, I don’t anyway unless they’re being too slow for the rest of us.”

“Trish, you need to show them some respect for these ladies, they might not be as clever as you undoubtedly are, but they have knocked about it a bit and deserve some respect for it.”

“It makes me laugh,” she said grinning, “the nuns say they have a vocation but are less knowledgeable than you about lots of things.Some are dumber than the turkey we just ate.”

“I doubt it, I’m sure they know lots of things.”

“Yeah about the bible, couldn’t tell you which way was North nor how to find it on an old tree.”

“What the moss?”

“Yeah, you showed us something useful not some old fashioned crap about religion, which is mostly what they know.”

“Did you know we celebrate Christmas now because it was originally the birthday of a pagan god Mithras.”

“Happy Birthday, Mithras,” she called. “See, they wouldn’t have told us that in case we all began wanting to know more about him rather than Jesus.”

“Okay, you can borrow this book after I finish it but be prepared to look up lots of words.”

“That’s okay, Mummy, I enjoy looking up words.”

She ran off saying out loud, “Who’s birthday is it today?”

I heard Livvie answer, “Jesus—duh.”

“No it isn’t, it was Mithras’ birthday, the Christians moved Jesus’ one there to convert the pagans. I’m gonna make him a birthday card, coming?”

What have I unleashed on the world