All religions contain ‘rules for life’. At one extreme, these embody universal wisdom not dependent on time and place. An example might be ‘do not steal’. Because of their universality, wise rules are often shared by more than one religion.

At the other extreme religions contain ‘rules’ that have no apparent connection with the universal values just described. These ‘rules’ are often confined to a particular era and local custom. An example might be Saudi Arabia forbidding women to drive cars. This rule had no obvious connection to universal wisdom and was therefore not shared by other cultures.

We are well advised to be aware that non-universal rules can enter society under the cover of the respectibility provided by ‘religion’. It is possible to hi-jack a religion for sincere but mis-guided reasons and bring misery to millions in the process. There are examples of this happening in the world today that we can probably all cite, the Roman Catholic view on contraception being one, suicide bombers being another.

Just as scientists link universal laws in the macrocosm to the microcosm (galaxies to planets to atoms), the same has always been true philosophically. This is summarised in the well known aphorism, ‘as above, so below’. To follow truth I suggest we must rigorously honour the law of the macrocosm, in the microcosm of everyday life. If you can’t see pollution as ‘theft of another person’s right to a clean, diverse and sustainable environment’, you won’t understand my point. While pollution was not named as a problem in the ancient text the consequences of theft are.

This illustrates why in my view, we should learn to know the difference between wise universal rules, and cultural or religious fundamentalism.