At this most recent holiday season, celebrated by all Christians here - some 12 percent of Hong Kong's population - and around the world, we may take a moment to give thought to the commendable level of freedom of religious beliefs enjoyed by everyone here.

This freedom is a cause for celebration, because no other world city comes anywhere near to having the same level of complete freedom of religious worship, which we perhaps take for granted.

Whether you are a Muslim, Taoist, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Jew, or a member of any of the other wide range of religious orders represented in Hong Kong - or, indeed an atheist - your religious beliefs are left up to you, with nary a worry about anybody else's reaction. This total religious freedom is not a universal phenomenon. But locally it is particularly important as it is believed that over half of Hong Kong's citizens belong to an organized religious group.

I have lived in certain other parts of the world where there were no mosques; and in others where there were no churches. Here we have some 600 religious buildings, ranging from Mormon, Buddhist, Tin Hau, Hindu, Sikh and Taoist temples; to Jewish synagogues; to Protestant and Catholic churches and cathedrals; to monasteries and nunneries; and to mosques and madrassas. Each believer can find a place to worship and belong to a community of his fellow-believers here, no matter what religion he may hold, and not having to be concerned about any repercussions from those who hold different beliefs.

This fact alone has helped generations of newcomers to Hong Kong find spiritual reassurance from their newly adopted home. While we take this for granted, this is not guaranteed in many parts of the world. The seemingly irreconcilable strife in the Middle East revolves to some extent around this point.

A person's ability to practice his faith is an important element of his personal make-up and how he relates to his adopted community at large. Unsurprisingly Hong Kong is remarkable for its absence of religious strife despite our ethnic diversity, and we must not take this peaceful state of affairs for granted. It is vital that we promote religious tolerance and harmony between different faiths.

Religious tolerance also aids greatly in helping new arrivals settle into their new surroundings as they quickly find their spiritual anchor.

To the eternal credit of many of the larger religious communities here, who have long provided a wide array of social amenities to all in need, they have contributed much to alleviating suffering among the poorer residents, particularly during those days when government social welfare was less comprehensive.

As well as hosting the believers of many varied religions, Hong Kong's citizenry is composed of people from a diverse range of ethnic groups and nationalities. In too many other parts of this troubled world, inter-religious strife, religious fanaticism, ethnic tension and inter-racial intolerance are all too common and often lead to serious strife, even killings.

Here in Hong Kong, such unpleasant tensions are fortunately extremely rare - despite our diverse mixture of races, religions, languages, nationalities and ethnic groups.

(HK Edition 01/12/2015 page9)