Comments on issues raised by BBC WHYS

Protests are expected later outside the Oxford Union when two controversial figures arrive for a free speech event. Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, and David Irving – jailed for denying the Holocaust – are to take part in an Oxford Union debate.

Words are the motors for action. Speeches can be the biggest movers. Hitler didn’t at first rule Germany by forming an army. He used his fiery speeches to gather support. Through his speeches he got the allegiance of the army and the Nazi sympathisers. Words can become deadly weapons as they translate thoughts which affect actions. Many thinkers change the world through their writings and speeches. Words have magic on the mind if they are eloquently expressed. The best forms of speech are slogans which can result in automaton thinking and actions. Labelling a group of people or a race with well memorised phrases can turn into die-hard attitudes. It should take generations to change them.

Racism and anti-Semitism are some of the contentious issues that despite campaigns and educational programmes are still entrenched in the mind of many. In many countries where Jews have left in masses and no longer exist there, anti-Semitism still exists. This is handed down from parents to children. Old stories and religious scripts are used for that effect. In orthodox interpretation of religions Jews are still seen as infidel. The religions that came after Judaism are meant to correct their irreligiousness. The revival of the Latin Mass created great controversy among Jews.

In the Muslim world, the speeches of Al Qaeda broadcast on the internet or on Al Jazeera TV channel had immediate effect on many young Muslims. This in turn has become a security scare for the authorities who have to discover and dismantle Al Qaeda cells now operating in tens of countries.

People, especially thinkers, should be free to express their views. But speech should be limited to what can unite people of different races and creeds. The danger is in manipulating facts and manipulating people’s mind to the point of their seeing facts distortedly.

There are different ways to start revolutionary thinking, but not on the basis of inferiority and superiority pattern, especially when it comes from influential thinkers whose words can be taken as gospel-truth by the multitude. At best people should keep their racial and fanatic attitude to themselves. Sometimes social hypocrisy works to maintain peace. Being straight on controversial attitudes in public will result just in extreme reaction on all sides.

Tony Blair avoided talking about his religious views while in office for fear of being labelled “a nutter”, the former prime minister has revealed.

Religion still has importance for many people. Through it they find inspiration and feel secure as there is an almighty that can look after them when their fellow human beings can let them down. Without belief in an ocean of grief or solitude, one can gather one’s strength to face life with all its oddities.

In Morocco, people aren’t asked to identify their religion in their identity documents as they are all considered Muslims. Political parties based on religion alone or ethnicities are banned. Many Moroccan communist or secular politicians are known not to practise religion by for example praying five times a day. When they take official responsibilities, they have to perform prayers at least on religious days like Eid Al Fiter after Ramadan when all important personalities in the country perform this religious rite.

In many countries, political leaders have to show their faith when faith is of paramount importance to the population. In Nigeria for example, leaders are identified as whether Muslims or Christians. In the USA, late president Kennedy was the first president of Catholic confession. US presidents’ speeches end with “God bless America”. In the dollar bill there is the prominent expression, “In God we trust.” So faith is of paramount importance in poor and rich countries alike. The fact that there are strong religious groups in the USA shows that no president can have massive votes if he or she proves atheist. In the run up to the presidential preliminaries, the BBC presented a documentary Panorama on Obama under the title, “Is America ready for a black president”. A section of the show was devoted to Obama’s faith and its influence on his chances to succeed in his presidential campaign. He is facing rumours by his opponents who say that he has Muslim blood in his veins, for the simple reason that his step father is a Muslim. Others were spreading false information about him like he studied in a Madrassa in Indonesia when he was a boy. Others nicknamed his Obama Osama. So in the USA, to take it just as an example, the question is not to have faith or not but which faith.

In multicultural and multi-faith societies, faith should be set apart. Secular approach is the best as politicians are seen for how they perform and not what they believe. Politicians who go too much public about their faith can just offend people of other faiths in such societies. It’s better to point out to a leader as socialist or liberal and to attribute their failure or success to their religious affiliation.

Blair was right in keeping his faith secret at least to avoid the embarrassment of being seen as taking decisions based on his faith. In the UK, the Queen is the Commander of the Faithful. It’s better to leave this official responsibility in her hands. There are other religious leaders who can guide the faithful. A Prime Minister or whoever other politicians seeking guidance from the religious leaders will put in jeopardy the separation of state and church. As such, politicians can talk about their faith in their memoirs after leaving office and not to contain it in their public statements or to make it the basis of their decision making to the dismay of people of other faiths, the atheists, the seculars and the agnostics.