Office if Religion - De Souza, National Post - Apr 28th

Setting up an office about religion at Foreign Affairs is the best idea I've seen in years. In all but the West, politics is driven not by what is best for the people or the country but by religious dogma. The best example of this is Islamism, a combination of politics and religion where the religion drives the politics. If we don't understand the religious drives of our friends and enemies, then we don't understand their politics, and the reasons for their economic and political decisions. Setting up a group to understand religious idiologies of foreign lands and of internal groups is an excellent idea. Freedom of religion is the right to practice your religion in the privacy of your home as long as it is in accord with Canadian law. It is not a right to have everyone respect your religion or its practices or to have others accede to those practices.