Buddhist art sparks cathedral row

The mandala will be laid by Buddhist monks for the arts festival

A dispute has erupted over a decision to display a piece of Buddhist art work at Salisbury Cathedral.

Christian group, Salisbury Church.Net, claims it breaks religious laws about worshipping idols.

But the cathedral's Canon Chancellor, Edward Probert, said he was happy to promote "greater understanding of other faith traditions."

The "mandala", made out of millions of grains of sand, will be laid out by Tibetan monks.

The ancient geometric image will be one of many displays for the city's arts festival next month.

'Celebrating tolerance'

But John Ferguson, from Salisbury Church.net said: "We believe that it is the commission of the church to tell people about Jesus - that's what Jesus told us to do.

"He didn't tell us to tell people about other religions or other faiths - he said to tell people about me."

Debbie Rigg, manager of the Salisbury International Arts Festival said: "We ought to be celebrating understanding of other people's faiths and tolerance of other people and surely we do that through having something like this in the cathedral.

"Arts festivals celebrate cultural differences and through the arts they increase understanding and tolerance."