often arose because fundamental rights were collective, while indigenous rights were individual in character. He reiterated this position in his closing address to the Roundtable on Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, and Nationalism, organised by the Fiji Human Rights Commission at Suva's Holiday Inn on 23 July. He insisted that indigenous rights and fundamental rights are mutually dependent and neither can exist without the other. In a message to cadets at Xavier College in Ba on 27 July, Madraiwiwi said that the cycle of blame trapped Fiji islanders into racially polarised politics. He said that Fiji was the richer for its ethnic and cultural diversity, and commended the cadet corps for having overcome ethnic divisions to operate as a cohesive whole. Relationship between church and state In the same Lautoka speech, Madraiwiwi opposed calls for the establishment of a Christian state in Fiji, saying that it would hinder a "correct relationship" between the overwhelmingly Christian ethnic Fijians and the mainly Hindu and Muslim Indo-Fijian community. He expressed concern that the growth of newer fundamentalist denominations at the expense of the long-dominant Methodist Church "evoked a less tolerant dimension to the work of some Christian churches." Madraiwiwi has since reiterated that proposals to establish a Christian state ignore the potential for division and conflict. Speaking at the Religion and Governance Forum in Suva on 17 May 2005, he said the proposal had its roots in the initial conversion of chiefs to Christianity and in the Deed of Cession, in which the chiefs ceded sovereignty to the United Kingdom in 1874, but considered that in a multi-faith country like Fiji, it would not be wise to establish any one faith. In an earlier address to a Hindu gathering on 28 March, Madraiwiwi had criticised government politicians for couching pronouncements in purely Christian terms. "When national leaders address the people of Fiji in specifically Christian terms, whatever the occasion, nearly half of our people are excluded," he said. "When prayer in mixed company is uttered in terms of a purely Christian God, we unintentionally omit and diminish others present of different faiths. When we use Christian symbolism to promote reconciliation, forgiveness and unity, we discount the contribution and equally rich traditions extant in other faiths and cultural traditions." Madraiwiwi has also said that churches have failed to do enough to confront serious social problems, including rape, incest, and other violent crimes, and has called