The truth is, even for some devout believers, there is an honest recognition that our ancient institutions are in need of an overhaul, a modernization process where even the words of god himself are openly criticized and whose hateful messages are ultimately abandoned.

How is it possible that in the 21st-century the largest province in Canada seems to have regressed to a point where its PQ government openly taunts us with laws that are on its face anti-democratic, discriminatory and reek of intolerance?

When the state takes an interest in regulating religious expression, it invites religious institutions to reply by using their force of numbers to remake government policy. More seriously still, excluding people of faith from the mass of society is the surest way to isolate and drive them into the arms of radicalism.

A faculty member at an elite educational institution in Pakistan mentioned in his recent Express Tribune blog piece that more than 80 per cent of his students replied in the negative on the question of Mother Teresa's entering Heaven. The overwhelming majority of students reasoned that despite saving thousands of lives, she was not a Muslim. The essence of all these discussions was that notwithstanding good deeds, it was the correct belief that decided salvation. I think being a good human being trumps religious beliefs and rituals any day.