That sounds simple enough, but what does religious freedom really entail?

For example the Christian Bible says that if I am seen to be working on the Sabbath I should be ‘smited’. In another part of the Bible it even says I should be killed. And I would also be entitled to sell my daughters into slavery.

Some religions even teach followers that they will go to Paradise if they kill non-believers! These are the people we call ‘terrorists’ but they are convinced that they are following their religious teachings. 

Am I denying someone some religious freedom if I protect myself from being ‘smited’? Or if I object to religious extremists bombing innocent people? 

It could be argued that the religious practice of circumcision of boys would be considered as an assault on an innocent child.

The Middle East has been in perpetual conflict for centuries and millions have died because of ‘religion’. While it should all respect other peoples’ religious views, there are some very real dangers in enshrining any sort of freedoms into law without very serious thought. Judging on what has been going on in the Middle East for hundreds of years it could be argued that what is really need, in some instances, is freedom FROM religion.

Good, religious people, in the past have brought the world great social and caring advancements but we should be careful when we talk about ‘freedoms’.   

It’s sad that leading economists are calling private health insurance a ‘con job’.

The whole idea was to allow people who could afford to pay for it as a means for jumping the queue when they waited for repairs to long-time problems such as knee replacements. And the costs were kept in line because Medicare was then owned by the people.

Then, of course, it was privatised and, suddenly, lots of funds started to appear offering great proposals but at ever-increasing costs. It became just another money-making machine.

And this at a time when the ordinary general practitioner was being paid the same standard fee that applied many years ago.

A sceptic would believe this is another attempt at privatising something that was once an outstanding medical service.

But the pollies love privatisation. It provides them with cash-in-hand to pay for running the country without having to ask for more tax or even creating methods for making money – like making sure that wealthy businesses do, indeed, pay tax.

There are still lots of pollies who constantly look for something that previous governments and taxpayers have created which they can sell off.

And anyone who still believes in privatisation need look no further than their regular electricity bill to realise that, in most cases, privatisation is simply a con job. Selling off something we now own to private owners who are interested only in profits has proven once again to be a very bad idea. Yet many of our pollies would really love to privatise more of our health services.

After that latest school shooting in the USA, it seems the Americans really love guns even more than they love their children. 

It is a sad reflection on the citizens in the most powerful country in the world.

President Trump and his team regularly tell the American people that the USA is the Leader of the Free World and those of us in that ‘free world’ constantly receive news of what is happening in America. But the reverse doesn’t seem to apply. Generally speaking, the Americans have an appalling lack of knowledge of what is happening in the rest of the world, including the more advanced countries.

With some very notable exception,s their news services are genuinely inward looking and, sometimes, very one-sided politically in their reporting, but the Americans make big decisions that can very easily and quickly involve other countries, including Australia. We have been involved in a series of conflicts around the world, none of them because of any threat to Australia but simply because the Americans asked for our support. Our involvement in the Iraq War was a good example – and it was because we were informed that President Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. That was proven to be completely wrong and, even if he did have them, there was no suggestion he would ever use them.

And that war is now blamed for the rise of ISIS and other Muslim uprisings around the world.

We can blame our own government for making Australians a target if we are ever attacked by terrorists – because we supported the American government.

But what do the Americans know about Australia or the other countries that have backed them in some foolish war? Very little! 

For example, do they know anything about the generally high standard of living in other parts of the Western world? That we don’t worship guns and killing each other? That we have longer annual holidays than they do? That we have a high standard of health care available to all?   

They might consider themselves to be ‘leaders of the free world’ but maybe they should learn more about the rest of the world that they would like to lead.

They might even learn to live without the threat of school children being shot because of their love of guns.

If the American media continues the theme that America leads the free world, maybe it’s time the media sent a few teams out into that ‘rest of the free world’ to report on the standard of living in those countries and how these ‘followers’ have learned how to live without the need for guns in every home – and enjoy some very good health services and other benefits. If they did, the American people might start demanding changes which might make their lives even better.

And start scrapping that gun culture.