Atal Bihari Vajpayee Quotes

Let no one challenge India's secularism.

More and more people care about religious tolerance as fewer and fewer care about religion.

The idea of India is not based on language, not on geography, not on ethnicity and not on religion. The idea of India is of one land embracing many. You can be many things and one thing: you can be a good Keralite, a good Muslim and a good Indian all at once.

India was secular even when Muslims hadn't come here and Christians hadn't set foot on this soil. It is not as if India became secular after they came. They came with their own modes of worship, and they, too, were given a place of honor and respect. They had the freedom to worship God as per their wish and inclination.

The fact remains that secularism is inherent in the Indian system, in the Indian ethos and culture. India cannot but be secular.

India's pluralism is its greatest strength and its greatest example to the world.

We can only talk to those who opt for the sovereign, territorially integral, secular, multiethnic and multi-confessional Syria.

Americans have always welcomed people of all backgrounds, religions, and races. It's a spirit of tolerance, now energized and amplified by the cult of multiculturalism.

As far as the public is concerned, India is amazingly secular.

In a unified and diverse Spain, based on the equality of and solidarity between its people, there is room for all of us. And for all of our feelings and sensitivities and our distinct ways of being Spaniards.

I don't think it's a good thing to have Christian states, Muslim states, or any kind of ethnic states.

From the newest arrivals to our Native American brothers and sisters, we are one America.

Above all there is our fixed joint determination to build a strong and united Fiji, rich in diversity and pampered with tolerance, goodwill and understanding.

America is woven of many strands. I would recognize them and let it so remain. Our fate is to become one, and yet many. This is not prophecy, but description.

Neither Pagan nor Mahometan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion.

True civility and Christianity may both flourish in a state or kingdom, notwithstanding. the permission of divers and contrary consciences, either of Jew or Gentile.

It is my will that in my empire the liberty of various creeds, after their several customs, be respected. And I declare at the same time, that I esteem alike all my subjects, to whatever religion they belong.

The pluralism of India has been the shaping force of our democracy.

Experience tells us that people are not born with the innate ability nor the wish to see the Other as an equal individual in society. Pride in one’s separate identity can be so strong that it obscures the intrinsic value of other identities. Pluralism is a value that must be taught.

There are Muslims of all kinds. The idea of closing them into a single identity is wrong.

Indian nationalism is the nationalism of an idea, the idea of an ever-ever land, emerging from an ancient civilization, shaped by a shared history, sustained by pluralist democracy.

Americans honor and respect each other's faith, and we honor those that choose to have no faith.

I respect every religion.

Britain is an open and tolerant country, and I will fight with everything I have to keep it so.

We believe in equal respect for all faiths.