Faith in the public domain

Prof Farish Noor contributed this to the ST yesterday. I am reminded that he couldn't work in his homeland because the religious establishment consider him too liberal and open minded. I think he felt it keenly and that perhaps helped him to write about religion in SE Asia better.

He took us on a quick tour of what it was like in the good old days where there was more respect for each other's faith. That is going going gone. What can we hope to achieve now except mutual tolerance? What can governments do? Sometimes as in Malaysia it is the problem. Everywhere governments aren't the right institutions to recreate the harmony of the past. We are on auto-pilot. Each religion has its vision of the future but be careful what you wish for. It will definitely not be like what you imagine. Concentrate on the present and learning to understand and get along with each other is best.