First of all I will say that I dont believe in any religion and God. So that makes me unbiased towards any religion. However, living in a state of US which comes in Bible Belt, called Texas, I have seen it very very clearly that Christians have clear mission of making every soul on this earth as Christian which is not justified at all. Its like Jehad from Christians and they dont kill people but slow poison them. From that I mean they will start telling you about their good and your bad aspects of religion and they dont feel bad about it. Raised in a Hindu family, I have learn not to boast about Hinduism or Shiva( and various other gods) and we were taught not to trouble others for what they feel. I think its time for all the non-christians to blatantly tell them that they are not interested in listening to them and there are better things to do in life other then thinking about what is laid down as rules for us. In the end I will say we make the rules to govern our life, and named it as our religion . Not to be a slave of the rules which we have set up, we shud have the flexibility to change ourselves as we progress.
Mr Lavakare has stated what we have long known about the Pope.
Meanwhile, here's a question Mr Lavakare needs to ask the Pope if he ever meets him:
Since you are the head of a State, the Vatican, is religious conversion allowed in your country? What have you done to change the laws of your state so that there can be freedom of religious faith in your State?
When the Pope travels to other countries he is accorded full rights as Head of State and he gets to meet not heads of other religious faiths but heads of political states.
Why don't our own President and Prime Minister ask the Pope this question as equal political leaders?
If the Vatican is a State it must give the rights to others that it expects others to accord to members of its community.
Mr. Arvind, don't forget we live in highly globalized world when you say you don't expect anyone to criticize your laws or lifestyle. The anti-conversion law is nothing but weak attempt to protect the numbers of hindus not their lives (the backword class). Hinduism in essense is discriminatory and most of the upper caste hindus are. So don't be surprised at this criticism.
Castism is an internal problem, an internal mistake not introduced by the religion but created by the men who follow hinduism. This shud be taken care by the hindu religious leaders and the likes. No other religion or the leader have any right or ethics to use it as a tool for conversion. Is it ethically or morally righteous for Hindus to use the pardah system as a tool to convert muslims as hindus? no. that is a flaw in their religion. so is casteism. it is being looked after and will take a metamorphical change to clean it up. If at all pope wants to propogate christianity, he shud use the greatness of his religion(if at all it has any) to convert.
next, where comes his right to demean an elected govt of India? he has no right to comment on it. then comes Arvind. he has been open to comments and unbiased in analysis. if the readers think that he is one of rss or vhp or whatever, its not his problem. he has never been anti-gandhi for anything and everything. Even, Arvind will agree to this point that Gandhi is infact the best human being ever on earth. But, he is not the best Indian. that's what his stand is. (mine too) selective amnesia is defenetely not his quality.
Pope has committed a cardinal sin by criticising the laws enacted by a soveriegn nation like India. He is not the representative of Indians though he may be the leader of Christains, but it ends there. Our goverment and political parties should strongly criticise pope's utterances. He better mind only vatican business. Arvind has very clearly articulated it very bravely. Jai Hind.
