Kai to phos en te skotia phainei kai e skotia auto ou katelaben

I was remembering the song about George Fox which I used to sing in primary school, after lisekit mentioned non-conformists. Turns out it was written by Syndey Carter, who also wrote Lord of the Dance, often maligned by those who like to point out that, in the Holy Scriptures which are our Supreme Authority in all Matters of Faith and Conduct, Jesus never did say "I am the Lord of the Dance". (Carter does not record what the dance was: I think of it as some swirly variant of ballroom modern).

Fox, of course, was a straight down the line Christian who identified the Light with Christ, although some surfing confirms that modern Quakers don't all agree with him. Carter seems to give a more universalist picture of Fox than Fox's writings allow for. Of course, I prefer Carter's version :-)

My former self regarded the idea that the light is in everyone as terribly unsound. Now, of all that I believed, what persists is a recognition of the light in people around me, whether they are Christians or not, and a belief that the light will win, in spite of the darkness which closes around it. Given the state of the world, maybe this belief is just as irrational as any religion, but as long as I continue to find light shining from new places, I will believe it.