Touched by God
After months and months of darkness and God seeming so absent, the only contact being in dreams, their meaning lighting my way, yes God was there but somewhat distant, a moment reveals how wonderful and mysterious is the presence of God. A commitment to free myself of certain things that bind me and then the amazing presence of the Spirit, touching my whole body. The divine lover caresses one for a moment and one knows love.
A time to revisit Religious Freedom
Religious freedom has become an essential feature of modern secular democracies. Yet like any core value of society, it is in a process of evolution and needs to be revisited, at various times as the life of a society unfolds. This is particularly necessary at this time in the light of issues raised by religious fundamentalism and extremism and particularly, the Islamic version.
In many of the Western democracies such as ours, freedom of religion was developed in the light of the diversity within Christianity. Yet there was a stage when, not necessarily fully articulated but assumed, it was freedom for people to practice their particular Christian beliefs.
In our society, multiculturalism has changed the face of what religious freedom means.