The “national draft statement on religious diversity” makes for an interesting read.

The revisions shown on the NZ Catholic site do improve the statement, but the ideas behind it still strike me as problematic. Like the ill-fated “hate crime” law proposed a couple of years back, attempting to encapsulate fundamental civilised behaviours in a simple statement is questionable.

The statement, even in its revised form, is not too controversial, but the question should be whether it is required at all.

In business, vision and mission statements are theoretically used to provide tangible measures of an organisation. When we try to reduce society, with its myriad peoples and goals, to this same dimension, we are usually glossing over the underlying issues.

Anyway, we’re now one week into Lent, so will cut my rant short and make some time to pray…