India, Oct. 6 -- Dear Shri Bhagwant Mann Ji,

Last Sunday, I took a few books to the church, including The Women's Bible and a book of devotionals, as I had to teach about the equality of the sexes in both the spiritual and secular realms at the Sunday School there. I carried them in a simple cloth bag, the sort we all use these days in place of plastic.

At church, I sat next to my friend from my Patna days and fellow church member, Gautam Chaturvedi. For convenience, I placed the bag on the floor next to me. Chaturvedi asked me what the bag contained. When I said it had the Bible, he immediately said, "Don't keep it on the floor, keep it on the stand."

Without hesitation, I took the bag off the floor, pulled out the Bible, and placed i...