Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach

Contributor: Kyle Smeby

If one were to learn everything they knew about religion from watching television they would have a pretty skewed view of what it meant to be "religious." Our culture seeks out conflict in order to add interest to any topic--especially religion. There just aren't enough people interested in listening to a treacly sermon about God's love to keep advertisers happy. Conversely, when the religions are at each other's throats the cameras can't get enough of it.

Therein lies the brilliance of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Richard Bach just removed our culture from the equation. It's not about a group of Christians or Muslims, just a harmless flock of seagulls; it's not even about religion, it's about flying. By removing those elements in which people have a vested interest he was able to tell a simple parable without getting bogged down in dogma and doctrine. In doing so readers from different faiths can try to fit it as a template over their chosen religion (as many have done) or they can use it as a lens to see the commonalities between the different religions rather than focusing on the differences. Even though Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a story of personal growth and development it can also affect the reader's view of society at large. After all, anyone who wants to change the world must first change themself.