Can well-intentioned religious leaders find a cure for the world's intractable problems? This question raises two fundamental questions: "Well-intentioned" and "religion".

It is rare to find religious leaders who are well-intentioned in the sense who really want to resolve world issues without gaining anything from it. Religious or other leaders today always seem to have an eye on the prize. It is either that the leader wants to get the Nobel Peace Prize or the leader hopes to convert those receiving help into their religious beliefs. In the context of eastern beliefs and especially according to Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence when a good act is performed with such expectations the results are never what one desires.

It also raises the question of "religion" -- We understand religion in the narrow sense of the rituals that we practice and rituals really don't add up to religion. Merely because one reads the Bible every Sunday or a Muslim prays five times a day or a Hindu performs a host of rituals in a Temple everyday is not an indication of a pious soul if that ritual does not enhance the quality of that person's life.

It is not how many times we pray that is important but how well we incorporate that prayer into our daily lives and in our relationship with other human beings that is important. So, one can be a well-intentioned religious being but if one does not have the universal love and compassion in one's heart for all fellow beings then one's intentions become suspect.

The question whether we are too politically correct about celebrating Christmas I think is misstated. I believe we are too politically "incorrect" in our celebrations of important religious occasions in any religion because we have taken the spirituality out of it and replaced it with crass commercialism.

The essence of the teachings of Jesus -- love and compassion for all of humanity -- has long been forgotten. We pay lip-service to His message in Church services and then go out and exchange presents and boost the economy with a lot of unnecessary and wasteful expenditure. The important question after Christmas is not what we did to further Jesus' message but how much money was circulated in the economy and who got the largest share of it.

That the U.S. Congress decided to legislate the importance of Christmas is, in itself, something ridiculous. For centuries the Christian world has been celebrating Christmas and everyone knows its importance to the Christian world. The trouble is that with increasing materialism in the world, especially in the United States, Christmas has become just another holiday to exchange gifts and boost the economy. Everyone is more interested in how much was spent and what it means to the economy rather than the spiritual aspect of the day. Paying lip-service in church for a few minutes -- mind you, the church service must never interfere with the enjoyment of the ball game and other events!! -- does not make a good Christian nor does legislating the importance of Christmas make Americans good Christians. The importance of the day is not even the birth of Jesus but the profound message of love, goodwill and peace that he preached during his lifetime. And, mind you, his love and goodwill were unconditional.
There is also the question of how do we celebrate this event inclusively. How do we make non-Christians realize that this is the day of Love and Peace and not about being a Christian? There is no such thing as Christian Love or Christian Peace.

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I would look for a Presidential Candidate who does not wear his/her religion on their sleeve, but recognizes the fact that the United States is a country with many different religions and that even if all of them are in the minority, they must be respected and treated as equal. People of the United States have the mistaken notion that secularism means rejection of one's own religion. It is not rejection at all. It is a true and sincere respect of all religions. I am reminded of the time in the 1930s when Christian missionaries came from the West to convert the oppressed "low caste" Indians. They stood on street corners denouncing Hinduism and proclaiming the virtues of Christianity.

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