Religious ritual is a way of structuring time so that we, not employers, the market or the media, are in control. Life needs its pauses, its chapter breaks, if the soul is to have space to breathe.

The Jewish festival of freedom is the oldest continuously observed religious ritual in the world. Across the centuries, Passover has never lost its power to inspire the imagination of successive generations of Jews with its annually re-enacted drama of slavery and liberation.

Focus on the mind and the soul. Read. Study. Enrol in a course of lectures. Pray. Become a member of a religious congregation. Study the Bible or other ancient works of wisdom.

The market economy is very good at wealth creation but not perfect at all about wealth distribution.

The evidence shows that religious people - defined by regular attendance at a place of worship - actually do make better neighbors.

As the political leaders of Europe meet to save the euro and European Union, so should religious leaders.