Dalai Lama Dilemma

Hey guys, got an interesting situation for you here:
Cooking show Masterchef is really popular here in Australia, and season 3 is well underway, with the final 6 contestants battling it out. The challenges are getting bigger each week, including cooking for the UN headquarters in NY and most recently for the Dalai Lama while he was visitng Australia.
However what caught the headlines was contestant Kate not calling him 'Your Holiness.'
A lot of criticism in the media - my minister and his family actually know her family, and it seems she has also felt a backlash in the show too.
Link is below, but I've copied the article too.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/masterchef-mum-snubs-holy-man/story-fn6b3v4f-1226094800932

MasterChef mum snubs 'holy man'
The Daily Telegraph July 14, 2011 6:10PM

HERE'S one for Dicko and his Can Of Worms: should a Christian show respect to the Dalai Lama by calling him 'Your Holiness' even if they don't believe in Buddhism?
That was the religious test facing MasterChef mum Kate Bracks, who refused to acknowledge the religious leader by his formal title when he was the guest star of this Sunday night's episode.

The 36-year-old Christian from Orange, in regional NSW, was the only contestant who felt "uncomfortable" with the protocol, addressing him only as "Dalai."

His appearance created an emotion-charged challenge for the other five competitors, who all spoke of his "energy," "aura" and "amazing spirit."

But Bracks told The Daily Telegraph on set in Melbourne last month she did not "see the Dalai as a holy man."

"My belief is that God is the only one that is perfectly holy. So in terms of everybody calling him 'Your Holiness' that was probably the only aspect of the challenge I was uncomfortable with ... calling him that, so I didn't. I just called him Dalai Lama."

Interestingly, Baptist minister Tim Costello and Uniting Church minister Bill Crews, who joined the Dalai Lama for the lunch service, happily called him "Your Holiness."

While "privileged" to be part of the challenge, Bracks said "to get down to the nuts and bolts, I don't see any difference if I'd cooked for (rival) Alana."

She questioned whether a Christian leader would have been "received so well" on TV, adding "... probably not."

From what I've heard the Dalai Lama doesn't mind what people call him and doesn't insist on being called 'Your Holiness' (but his minders do.) As the example of perfect enlightenment he is not supposed to have attachment to earthly things anyway. He is the leader of the delug branch of buddhism and seen as the reincarnated leader.

What I find interesting here are a few points:

People do not think it is a good enough reason if someones religious views conflict with calling him by that title. Why is it buddhist sensibilities are given superiority?

Many people in Western society, while they are not buddhist feel the Dalai Lama is a holy man or deserves reverence, even though they do not believe in the religious beliefs that ascribe these qualities. Other religious leaders are not ascribed this respect. I find this interesting because to me, if I am not a buddhist and I do not belief he is perfection or reincarnated then he is just another a relgious leader. He either is who they say he is, or he's not. Like many other religious and national leaders he is kind, intelligent and not without wisdom. A nice guy for the most part. I think there is a move in western society to embracing a vague form of buddhism that allows us to pick and choose.

The Christian leaders called him Your Holiness. I feel this is an example of politically correct compromise?

So what do you guys think?
Would you call the Dalai Lama 'Your Holiness?' Do you think it acceptable to decline using the term due to religious beliefs? Who do you think the Dalai Lama is? And do you think Western society favour buddhism as a vague notion of spirituality while rejecting the inconvenience of properly following it?