In our secular, rationalist, science-based world there is something pleasingly chaotic about the scheduling of Easter, as it oscillates throughout March and April, seemingly at random. The timing is a throwback to ancient lunar calendars and observations of the equinox (in case you are wondering, it is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the equinox on 21 March).
Religious festivals falling on or about the equinox and solstice were common features of the pagan world, and were seamlessly assimilated into Christian traditions. In the modern western world, they have transformed again. Devotees flock to the temples of consumerism and materialism to worship at the Easter and Boxing Day sales, pausing only to rail against restricted shopping hours on Christmas Day and Good Friday, which risk enforcing the horror of time with family or allowing for self-reflection.
In their religious context, Easter and its forebear and ongoing companion, Passover, are festivals of optimism and hope. They celebrate a concept of a loving God who cares for creation. They acknowledge the tendency of people to do evil but speak to forgiveness. The concepts of equality of human dignity and worth flow through them and are entrenched in the liberal democratic traditions which most of the west follows (or, at least, to which it pays lip service).
Underpinning almost all religious belief is the premise that absolute truth exists and can be known, if not experienced. Dangerous concept, “absolute truth”. It seems somewhat like the idea of using the “reasonable person” as an objective test. I can still recall being puzzled by this idea when first presented with it at law school. After all, who is the reasonable person? We all know the immediate instinctive answer to that question, it is “me”. “I am reasonable. The rest of you, should you disagree with me, are subjective and wrong. The more you disagree with me, the more unreasonable you become.” It seemed to be subjectivity dressed up as something else.
Of course, as judges we all appreciate the reasonable person test is more nuanced than that. Reasonableness is not immutable and unchangeable but represents a range of views acceptable within our community as a response to the human behaviour under scrutiny. We may not agree with certain actions and would not behave like that ourselves but as judges can accept it as being within the range of reasonableness. We are called on to exercise sound judgement as to what our community considers reasonable, without following passing trend and fashion.
That said, what is successfully presented as “objective and absolute truth” is too often subjective belief, delusion or outright lies but with might behind it. So, what is it about Easter that causes me to be transfixed by truth, and to bother you with it? Part of the Easter story is that of a criminal trial. During that trial the judge, Pilate J, in response to Jesus claiming he was on the side of truth, sneered “Truth, what’s that?”
That question is pertinent when we witness a jurisdiction sharing our values seemingly having judicial independence, respect for judicial decisions and the rights they uphold being systematically eroded. It seems bewildering that a person, who should enjoy protection of law, is being wrongly removed to a prison in a foreign country without due process. Despite judicial direction that he be brought back, he will not be returned. Raw power openly scoffs at the law. Making those who oppose abusive power disappear is a time-honoured playbook of the tyrant. The German phrase summarises it so well: “nacht und nebel”. It means into the night and fog. A policy of terror and control.
Similar are the attacks on judicial independence. Calls to impeach judges who do not follow “party line” is not what is expected from our American cousins. But here we are. It is cancer on the rule of law. I recommend that you read the statement by the IAJ, of which we are all members. Words may not seem much, but speaking out is important. The bandwidth cannot be only taken up by the bluster of dishonesty.
Truth matters. Otherwise, we are left with the ethos well expressed by a politician that dominated his time. Early in his career he said: “Success is the sole judge of right and wrong.” By the end of his career, it might have been thought that experience and some reflection would have moderated that view but instead he doubled down, taking no responsibility or admitting he was wrong. Amongst his final words, written just shy of 80 years ago: “It’s not truth that matters but victory.”
Truth matters. Easter is a time of hope. Truth mattered little on Good Friday. Raw power appeared to have won. Easter Sunday changed that. These things will pass, but only if passionate intensity is not left to the nihilists.