I can't remember how I got asked to trial for Thought for the Day, probably through my Interfaith work, and I'm not sure if I had to go through a sort of dry run to see if I could write and read to fit into a precise time slot before they were prepared to let me loose on the airwaves, or if it was just that for my first attempt they didn't worry too much about me integrating things with the news. Whatever was the case, this was what I came up with, and if it was a test it would seem that I passed it.

You know, it may seem hard to believe if you watch the TV news, but Muhammad said "I come with the religion of Truth and Tolerance". Now this may not always be apparent in those who call themselves his followers, but Muhammad is not to be blamed for that. After all, I don't think Jesus would have expected the Spanish Inquisition. Nobody ever does. How much more pleasant our society would be if everyone based their lives on the example of those who first taught the principles of our religions to us. I think they all would have agreed on humanity's need for Truth and Tolerance as a basis for the lives of individuals and the health of our society.

 Scientists like to identify themselves with the search for Truth, rarely admitting that personal opinions could distort their objectivity. But the truth of this year's science will soon change, as another subtler theory comes along which explains those strange results discarded as experimental error. Truth is much more than what can apparently be proved. Telling the Truth is essential to understand our life experience. After all, if you don't speak the truth how can you trust what you hear in response, as it is based on false information.

 Many people in business seem to think that telling their customers what they would like to hear is an option preferable to the truth. But if I am led to believe that something I need is in the post, when in fact it is in a warehouse in Taiwan, it certainly isn't good for anyone's business. I may be satisfied for the moment, but when the package doesn't arrive it will just mean more irate phone calls, more chaos and rethinking for me, and certainly no repeat orders for the supplier. When I know the truth, however unpleasant, I can put my efforts into dealing with the real situation rather than basing my business plans on someone else's prevarication.

 We need Truth to make sense of our experience. Yet even when looking at the same set of facts, we all fit them into our own frames of reference, and may come to very different conclusions. What we need to survive in harmony together is Tolerance. Living with like minded people is hard enough, let alone having to surmount the problems of living with people who disagree with us. But if you only listen to people who reinforce what you already know, you are never going to learn anything new. It is not Creation that is limited, but our own capacity to understand it. Clearly if we are to understand it better we need to listen to those of different opinions, but when they disagree with us we do need Tolerance.

 The Qur'an says that God created us male and female and different races and tribes so that we may come to know one another, and says not to argue with the followers of other revelations except in the most kindly manner. The servants of the All-Merciful are those who walk on the earth modestly, and who, when the ignorant address them, say "Peace".