Sectarian divide has created a schism in our society that is a major challenge. As monarch of all Bahrainis it pains me to see many harmed by the actions of a few. And yet I am optimistic and have faith in our people. We all realize that now is the time to strike a balance between stability and gradual reform.
In thinking about religion and society in the 21st century we should broaden the conversation about faith from doctrinal debates to the larger question of how it might inspire us to strengthen the bonds of belonging that redeem us from our solitude helping us to construct together a gracious and generous social order.
Society lives by faith and develops by science.
Our society is illuminated by the spiritual insights of the Hebrew prophets. America and Israel have a common love of human freedom and they have a common faith in a democratic way of life.
My heart hath often been deeply afflicted under a feeling that the standard of pure righteousness is not lifted up to the people by us as a society in that clearness which it might have been had we been as faithful as we ought to be to the teachings of Christ.
American democracy must be a failure because it places the supreme authority in the hands of the poorest and most ignorant part of the society.
The greatest failure is that although we have created institutions we have not created a civil society.
Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success.
I don't think people should have boundaries put on them by themselves or society or another gender because it's our birthright to experience life in whatever way we feel best suits us.
I feel that the Christian experience and the Jewish one have much to give each other. If this open society continues and there is no return to political anti-Semitism then this encounter deeper than any theology may happen.