I’ve always thought of religion as a personal relation between an individual and what he/she perceives as “God” but what matters most – in my opinion – is NOT the scripture, and/or religious rituals/practices or even dress code; these all to me are immaterial/irrelevant. What really matter is a persons temperament/attitude in real life and the respect to basic/fundamental/universal human values; otherwise religion becomes either irrelevant in one extreme to a vice in the other. Here I’m far from disputing the importance of religion; not at all. What I am suggesting is that people need focus on core values religion promotes while also considering lessons from history on religious conquests in addition to where we are now as a society; these are all hugely relevant parts of the picture. The problem becomes more dangerous/consequential when religion becomes a form of indoctrination – I know it from experience though for sure to a lesser degree than many others – this in a world that demonstrates without a shadow of doubt what this threat of indoctrination poses – past, present and future – especially where there is precious little to no focus (particularly at a young age) on the importance of basic moral principles/values and empathy irrespective of religious affiliations. Many western leaders are also (sadly) filling in the gap by providing space to these vile strategies either through ignorance or just subscribing to narrow/racist ideologies. Whether indoctrination result in weaponizing religion or merely neutralizing decent (as a diversion) in autocracies the ultimate end game translates to instability/human suffering. The key takeaway here is this; I believe there first needs to be consensus that there is a problem in the way we’re dealing with religion and engage communities directly to help understand realities they face on the ground and ways to help devise a strategy to promote a truly well integrated multicultural/multi-religious environment not as a given but as an opportunity to be embraced; that’s the spirit needed and this is one area of policy that needs a grassroots approach to help resolve this nugget once and for all. Of course as with anything else these are matters of choice and that’s why it all begins with agreement/consent including matters related to what is deemed acceptable in a secular state as well as the prevailing culture which should be part of that conversation.