Ayed: Should religion be a tool of Canadian foreign policy?

By:
Nahlah Ayed
/
20 February, 2012
By: Nahlah Ayed
London correspondent for CBC News The National

For any secular country, like Canada, to use religion as a foreign policy tool would be odd, to say the least, if not counter-productive. *Promoting* religious freedom, on the other hand, could form a plank of foreign policy; similar to (and part and parcel of) promoting freedom of expression, of thought, and freedom of political affiliation. They are all notoriously difficult concepts to instil in countries that aren*t interested in such freedoms. You could establish an office to promote each of them, but none of it would make up for the presence*in-country*of smart, firm and well-resourced diplomats who, ultimately, are the ones who promote those values we Canadians hold dear.

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