the Bible, baptism, worship and the effort to lead a moral life. This new way of considering the issue of Church unity met with great approval at the Council and was adopted with very few dissenting voices.Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions – The declaration Nostra aetate ("In our time", 1965), the shortest of Vatican II's documents, is a brief commentary on non-Christian religions, with a special section on the Jews. Pope John wanted the Council to condemn antisemitism, including any Catholic teaching that might encourage antisemitism. It was felt the way to avoid stirring up trouble in the Middle East was to include the passage on the Jews within a broader document about non-Christian religions. Avoiding argument or criticism, the declaration points out some positive features of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. “The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is holy and true in these religions”; they often “reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men and women” (NA 2). As for the Jews, the declaration says they are very dear to God: “God does not take back the gifts he bestowed or the choice he made” (NA 4). Jews are not rejected or cursed by God because of the death of Jesus: neither all Jews then, nor any Jew today, can be blamed for the death of Jesus. The Church deplores all hatred and antisemitism. And the declaration ends with a condemnation of all forms of discrimination based on religion or ethnicity. In [the Declaration], a Council for the first time in history acknowledges the search for the absolute by other men and by whole races and peoples, and honours the truth and holiness in other religions as the work of the one living God. [...] Furthermore, in it the Church gives glory to God for his enduring faithfulness towards his chosen people, the Jews. Better Jewish-Catholic relations have been emphasized since the council.Religious Freedom – The declaration Dignitatis humanae ("Of the Dignity of the Human Person", 1965), "on the right of the person and of communities to social and civil freedom in matters religious", is the most striking instance of the Council's staking out a new position. Traditional Catholic teaching rejected freedom of religion as a basic human right. The argument: only Catholics have the truth and so they alone are entitled to freedom of belief and of practice. All other religions are in error