[Gengis Khan]

"A rather silly argument, and the same one used by the Saudis.

It doesn't fly. The Vatican is a special tiny state which houses a handful of buildings. The accurate comparison would be with Italy, which allows religious freedom."

The only arguement made by your side is:
"I want to full right to enter your home (even if it maybe against your wishes) also have the right to denigrate and demonise your religion and culture as a form satanic ritual of "Pagans" and I want to have full right to covert you (through whatever means possible) ............. while I will allow no such nonsense on my turf.........because Vatican is a small .....blah blah...."

No takers for that brand of "Religious freedom" in India and rightly so.

[B Knotts]

Nonsense. The point is: there is no room in the Vatican to build anything. But in Western countries (as well as many Eastern countries), people are perfectly free to worship (or not) in whatever religion they choose.

This freedom should be recognized by all countries.

It's absurd to use the Vatican as a counter-argument for religious freedom. It's like asking for a church to be built within an existing religious building.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"The only arguement made by your side is: I want to have full right to covert you (through whatever means possible)... while I will allow no such nonsense on my turf..."

This is a falsehood.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"John Paul ll in New Dehli India at a mass in which he drew parallels between Djwali, the Hindu festival of lights. The mass was punctuated by English and Hindi hymns, traditional dances from across Asia and prayers (to who?) offered in several languages. the stadium service was adapted for Hindu culture, with priests ringing bells and showering petals in traditional temple rituals. He later met with Hindu, buddhist, Sikh, Muslim, Jain, Parsee, Jewish and Baha'i leaders. Nov 7, 1999 "

Denigating and demonizing. Not.

[Cronos]

The only arguement made by your side is: "I want to full right to enter your home (even if it maybe against your wishes) also have the right to denigrate and demonise your religion and culture as a form satanic ritual of "Pagans" and I want to have full right to covert you (through whatever means possible) ............. while I will allow no such nonsense on my turf.........because Vatican is a small .....blah blah...."

Nope -- the Catholic Church does not do that -- we don't believe that your gods are true (and you are free to believe that of ours) and we wish to tell you about ours. You have the right to not listen, to ignore, to tell us to go away. Does the Pope say that Hare Krishna's should be kicked out? No. That's silly -- they don't FORCE people to join them. The Church does not force anyone to join them -- give me one example in INDEPENDENT INDIA where the Church has used force to convert. Give me proof for any case where the Church has paid people to convert -- and no, charity is different from bribing..

don't spout rot about the Church asking for I want to have full right to covert you (through whatever means possible) -- the Church wants the right for people to CHOOSE their own religion -- and this is what is allowed in the West, in most of India, but not in SAudia Arabia or Pakistan or Egypt.

As for the term pagan -- look it up in the dictionary -- it means a non-Christian in the narrowest sense. And yes, Hinduism is not christian, hence followers are pagan -- it's not really a perjorative term, just a descriptive one. As I pointed out earlier, the term Hindu is from the Persian term for those who lived int he Indian sub-continent, so saying that all Indians are Hindus int he broadest sense is correct. Don't go nuts.

[July4th64]

Okay then...we'll allow Hindu Temples in the Vatican, as long as we can build a Christian Chapel in the Ka'ba in Mecca. And maybe hand out tracts and Bibles in the foyers of said Hindu Temples.

Let's have equal opportunity desecration, please.