I agree that no one's faith should be ridiculed. But rationalists should not be killed for speaking what they feel is right. Munshi Premchand has written a beautiful story of a poor man whose cat dies being asked by the Brahmin to donate a cat cast in gold to avoid the horrible fate that awaits him otherwise. In today's atmosphere I shudder to think what would have happened to Premchand. 

While we have freedom of press which was almost nil until the nineties or even later than that , writers too have had great freedom to write and express themselves, much more than ever before, so much so that some of them began to think that they could go to any extent to show how free they are by ridiculing others beliefs and faith. While rationalists and rationalist writers may ridicule the idea of religion and education coming together, they sre only showing their intolerance and short sighted views. 

Education is very important to curb superstition but education is not a barrier to anyone's faith and belief. I would say both education and faith can go a long way without being each other's hindrance. True education helps to understand one another's faith and never comments negatively so having worship place has no connection with educational institutions. If some one comes up with negative approach then a problem arises or else there is no reason to oppose having numerous worship places.    

Rationalism doesn't mean ridiculing someone's beliefs and mocking those believers. I firmly opine that not coming in the way of others way of life . Religion is good for someone. No one has the right to ridicule others.

There is no need for anyone to go around proclaiming that he or she is a rationalist and group around and look down on the rest of the people ...Actions speak louder than words.Recently Kalburgi who went to the extent of supporting people who had peed and spat on Hindu gods statues , was cremated with al Hindu ceremonies...Most of these people who claim to be rationalists are on unsteady ground , with one foot there and one foot here , not knowing which is truly theirs !

A true rationalist neither ridicules nor criticizes others beliefs and ridicules . He simply talks about rationalism while honoring others beliefs with due respect.

A member has opined that the freedom of press was nil till the nineties or later. Will this statement be classified as an rational or irrational statement. Because  barring the period from June 1975 till mid 1977, the press in India has always been free. Just as Kalburgi got carried away we also get carried away sometimes.

Indian media has always been controlled by the party in power which was mostly by one family and the media was the mouth piece of the government ..Media was opened up along with other things during P V Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh's tenure, which was of course partly initiated earlier by Manmohan Singh under Rajeev Gandhis rule. The real press freedom came after  that..

Perhaps the member has not heard of editors like Frank Moraes, Rusi Karanjia, Cartoonist Shankar,, Durga Das etc who were fearless journalists right from Nehru's time onwards.Perhaps she is talking about the government media and not the entire media. Govt media as per its ownership will always be a moutn piece of the govt. But herl last  lne that "The real press freedom came after that' again confuses teissue. Barring emergency period the non govt. media has always been free.

It would be better if Modi Government should organize an Education Commission for revamping of the whole education system to make it more vocational skill-oriented with due respect to the cultural values of Bharat. That Commission can involve the public participation too to avoid any objection later on. Since every day of the nation is precious, the Commission may be allowed minimum period with vast resources to give report.