Hi everybody this is Gad's out for the sad truth I thought that on the eve of the

Jewish New Year I might take the opportunity to wish all Jews around the world a happy new year, Shantova, but also to remind folks,

Jews and non-jus alike, of the importance of secularism in Western liberal democracies.

I wrote a Huffington Post article several months ago which I highly encourage you to read.

I'll place the link to article at the bottom of this clip. Basically I argue that what offers people

protection in terms of the practice of their religion is precisely secularism.

It's the idea that religion is precisely secularism.

It's the idea that there are no official policies

that privilege any particular religion over another.

And the way that you ensure that is by not conceding an inch

when it comes to offering religious accommodations within the public sphere. And I think people who choose to live in the West

should abide by those tenets. And I will give two examples from my own personal life of how I've lived by that

mantra. So when I was a highly competitive soccer player.

I remember in a given year we had a, I think it was a Quebec Cup match, maybe quarterfinals, maybe seven

finals, quite an important match.

And it so happened that the game was being played on the eve of Yom Kippur,

which is the start of the day of atonement the highest holiday in the Jewish

calendar and I've fasted for many years I don't anymore but I fast it for many years out of respect for my parents and

tradition not so much not so much for any you know religious reasons and at the

time I was honoring the fast that comes with Yom Kippur and I felt I faced a dilemma.

I could either not go to the match, which would have been a bad thing for my team and for myself, or I could

actually go and play the game and yet still honor the fasting.

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