About a century or two ago, the Pope decided
that all the Sikhs had to leave Italy.
Naturally there was a big uproar from the Sikh community.
So the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate
with a member of the Sikh community.
If the Sikh won, the Sikhs could stay.
If the Pope won, the Sikhs would leave.
The Sikhs realized that they had no choice. Sothey picked a
middle-aged man named Harbinder Singh to represent
them.Harbinder asked for one addition to the debate.
To make it more interesting, neither side would be allowed
to talk! . The Pope agreed.
The day of the great debate came.
Harbinder Singh and the Pope sat opposite each other for a
full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers.
Harbinder looked back at him and raised one finger.
The Pope waved his fingersin a circle around his head.
Harbinder pointed to the ground where he sat.
The Pope pulled out a wafer and a glass of wine. Harbinder pulled out an apple.
The Pope stood up and said, "I give up. This man is too good.
The Sikhs can stay."
An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope asking
him what had happened.
The Pope said, "First I held up three fingers to represent the
holy trinity.
He responded by holding up one finger to remind
me that there was still one God common to both our religions."
"Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us.
He responded by pointing to the ground and showing that God was also right here with us.
I pulled out the wine and wafer to show that God absolves us from our sins.
He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin.
He had an answer for everything. What could I do?"
Meanwhile, the Sikh community had crowded around Harbinder Singh.
What happened?" they asked. "Well," said Harbinder,
"First he said to me that the Sikhs had three days to get out of here.
I told him f *@ k off and not one of us was leaving."
"Then he told me that this whole city would be cleared of Sikhs.
I let him know! that we were staying right here."
"Yes, yes, ...and then???" asked the crowd.
"I don't know",said Harbinder,
"He took out his lunch, and I took out mine!!!"
Monday, February 21, 2005
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