Religion is not something I usually write about. Mainly because I don’t want to offend anybody. It is after all everybody’s own choice as to how they nurture their soul. But the latest Catholic Church’s political maneuvers have kind of gotten to me.

Religion is one of those areas where one can’t decide, or at least I can’t, whether it is a private thing or public. I grew up in apartheid South Africa. The churches there were condemned for not doing more to stop the crimes against humanity that were practised on a daily basis.

Those ministers who had the courage and conviction to speak up were thrown out of the church and the society they lived in. Beyers Naude springs to mind as a great example.

Then there was one clergyman, Desmond Tutu, who stood up and made so much noise that the was awarded the Nobel Peace prize. Many people spoke up against him and said that the church should look after its own souls and not interfere with politics.

Where to draw the line. It’s complicated. After all religion can dictate how one lives, look at Muslims and Jews for instance. Their religious beliefs determine many of their daily activities. How is it possible that their religion wouldn’t encroach into political life.

But it’s not the Muslims and Jews that have made me think about this topic again. It’s the latest little dramas playing out in the Vatican that could concern one in the western world. I’m almost relieved that the Catholic Church has lost some of its power because what the Pope is doing could signal a move onto dangerous ground.

There have been some vague rumblings already since Benedict took over that gave an indication that he is fairly conservative in his interpretation of the bible and the Catholic faith. There is a rumour that Latin could be re-introduced into the services again for instance.

But that is of course nothing to worry people about. In fact the Latin services can be quite beautiful. It’s the move in January 2009 to rehabilitate some bishops who had been banished previously that is causing widespread apprehension.

The four bishops have a reputation for being ultra conservative. For instance Bishop Richard Williamson is known to be a part holocaust denier. Besides this he and the other three bishops were a breakaway group ordained without Vatican permission by the renegade French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who rejected the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

However, what is concerning Jews for instance is more the holocaust opinions voiced by Williamson. Germany’s Chancellor Merkel has taken this so seriously that she has voiced a strong concern today stating that she sincerely hopes the Catholic church would not now decide to endorse this belief.

It is when the leaders of a particular religion start to support beliefs outside politics and in this case humanitarian scope that one becomes massively concerned for the safety of the world.

It’s bad enough that there are religious extremists of whatever religion who interpret their belief systems in such a way as to allow them to wage personal wars, sometimes violently, against anybody opposing their beliefs.

The problem becomes huge when an entire religious institution supports some belief system that could lead to a situation where a crime against people could be denied or ignored, even condoned..

By virtue of this belief system it could open the doors to Christian extremists who would now feel supported by the church to instigate all sorts of horrific deeds against mankind. Nothing like a touch of religious zeal to get the murdering juices flowing.