The Deep North » Faith of our Fathers:
Trudging up the glen, one comes gradually upon a little limewashed house clinging to a fold in the hills. Back in the sixth century, Christianity essentially came through St Columba’s Iona. The processes of history created a situation in which this unpretentious farmhouse was, so to say, a second Iona; absolutely everything which was continuous about the Catholic faith in Scotland passed through it. Brave men, living on oatmeal, nettles and salt herring. Even if you personally feel you can take religion or leave it, a place like Scalon is a reminder that although ‘fanaticism’ is a dirty word, people can go to extraordinary lengths of personal heroism for a religion – without, moreover, feeling the need to blow anybody else up.
[composed and posted with ecto]