Choose your own religion wisely
Written at 10:17 PM on Tuesday, July 19, 2011
OK, I really don't want to blog about religion since it's such a taboo topic but since Mitch Albom can talk about religion liberally in his books, I shall attempt to do the same. However, if anyone is offended by what I'm going to blog, please feel free to never visit my blog ever again.
This blog entry was inspired by what I had experienced today morning.
I had a break from 10 to 11am today morning after my GEMS module and since I had a test at 5pm, I decided to look through my tutorials during the break. I was looking through my work at the study area near McDonald's (in campus) when a parent accompanied by her teenage daughter asked if they could sit at the same table as me. I was actually quite surprised at first but I thought they were probably in campus to survey the environment for future enrollment.
So, they started introducing themselves and one of them asked which school I was from. I said School of Business and immediately, they figured I was from Accountancy since they saw the calculator that was on the table and my tutorial. As we chatted, I realized that the girl was already a graduate and I asked her what she doing in SP in the morning.
Her reply: "Oh I was reading the bible this morning at home."
In my mind, I was like: Wtf. Must be one of those Christians trying to get church followers again.
And obviously, the conversation slowly went on to talk about the Bible and God. Being someone who is somewhat trained to identify brainwashing, I was a little skeptical. However, I was too polite to say in their face that I wasn't interested or ready to commit to any religion yet.
And ...... we talked for half an hour. YES. Full 30 minutes.
I admit, I was at fault for prolonging the conversation since I did give my opinions but if anyone was smart enough to get my non-verbal clues (like my mum is a Buddhist and I'm a free thinker and my constant eye shifting), people would know that I'm trying to feign interest.
Reason why I don't want to tell her in the face was that, I like to know more about the Bible (but I'm not ready to commit) and I'd like to see how good you are at trying to talk me into your religion.
At one point of the conversation, she was talking about having a monologue relationship with God and then she asked if I knew the meaning of monologue. Then I said: "Ya". At the back of my mind, I was like: Right I'm having a monologue with you now. Then, she went on to explain how she's a bad person and how religion made her admit her mistakes blah blah blah...
Around that point in time (when I finally figured the conversation was no longer educational for me), I started slowing packing my stuff... and lady finally realised that I had to go off for lecture and you know what she said?
"Can I have another two minutes with you?"
I nearly wanted to leave but since I was towards the end already, I just wanted to know what tricks left she has got to pull. She ended off by saying that god loves me and she asked if I will be in the same location next week. I said no and left shortly after.
I swear if I ever meet this kind of person again who tries to sell me their religion in school, I will complain to SP Student Welfare Dept. This is the second time that I've been in such situations.
A school is supposed to be free of religion, not some kind of recruitment ground for followers. This is entirely wrong. If every religion starts recruiting students from schools, you can imagine the kind of environment that we will be studying in.
What disturbs me the most was that these people don't even know what their doing is illegal. And these people also probably belong to some external organization that isn't even affiliated with SP.
OK, I know some people think that I have an extreme viewpoint but let me give you this analogy.
If a person comes up to you and sells a product and says that this product can make your life better/ less miserable/ gives you enlightenment, obviously people will be inclined to buy it.
Problem is, religion isn't a product that you can sell just by stating its benefits. Anyone can tell you that the religion they follow is beneficial for them but they fail to say how much time and effort they spend to get that "benefit".
Ladies and gentlemen, religion is a form of commitment to god. Only through commitment, you will feel a sense of belonging with your fellow religious friends and hence you will start to believe religion.
If you read Mitch Albom's "Have a Little Faith", you will understand this point.
So if someone sells to you religion like a product by saying how much good it has done to them, you might want to ask how committed is the person towards religion;)
And don't forget that religion is a choice; no one can force you into a religion. If someone tries to influence you into a religion, that person is just plain rude.
ps: I think some Christian's may agree with me that this isn't acceptable. And to prove that I'm not biased, my mum's indeed a Buddhist and I have Catholic, Christian and Muslim friends who are firm believer's of their religion.
This blog entry was inspired by what I had experienced today morning.
I had a break from 10 to 11am today morning after my GEMS module and since I had a test at 5pm, I decided to look through my tutorials during the break. I was looking through my work at the study area near McDonald's (in campus) when a parent accompanied by her teenage daughter asked if they could sit at the same table as me. I was actually quite surprised at first but I thought they were probably in campus to survey the environment for future enrollment.
So, they started introducing themselves and one of them asked which school I was from. I said School of Business and immediately, they figured I was from Accountancy since they saw the calculator that was on the table and my tutorial. As we chatted, I realized that the girl was already a graduate and I asked her what she doing in SP in the morning.
Her reply: "Oh I was reading the bible this morning at home."
In my mind, I was like: Wtf. Must be one of those Christians trying to get church followers again.
And obviously, the conversation slowly went on to talk about the Bible and God. Being someone who is somewhat trained to identify brainwashing, I was a little skeptical. However, I was too polite to say in their face that I wasn't interested or ready to commit to any religion yet.
And ...... we talked for half an hour. YES. Full 30 minutes.
I admit, I was at fault for prolonging the conversation since I did give my opinions but if anyone was smart enough to get my non-verbal clues (like my mum is a Buddhist and I'm a free thinker and my constant eye shifting), people would know that I'm trying to feign interest.
Reason why I don't want to tell her in the face was that, I like to know more about the Bible (but I'm not ready to commit) and I'd like to see how good you are at trying to talk me into your religion.
At one point of the conversation, she was talking about having a monologue relationship with God and then she asked if I knew the meaning of monologue. Then I said: "Ya". At the back of my mind, I was like: Right I'm having a monologue with you now. Then, she went on to explain how she's a bad person and how religion made her admit her mistakes blah blah blah...
Around that point in time (when I finally figured the conversation was no longer educational for me), I started slowing packing my stuff... and lady finally realised that I had to go off for lecture and you know what she said?
"Can I have another two minutes with you?"
I nearly wanted to leave but since I was towards the end already, I just wanted to know what tricks left she has got to pull. She ended off by saying that god loves me and she asked if I will be in the same location next week. I said no and left shortly after.
I swear if I ever meet this kind of person again who tries to sell me their religion in school, I will complain to SP Student Welfare Dept. This is the second time that I've been in such situations.
A school is supposed to be free of religion, not some kind of recruitment ground for followers. This is entirely wrong. If every religion starts recruiting students from schools, you can imagine the kind of environment that we will be studying in.
What disturbs me the most was that these people don't even know what their doing is illegal. And these people also probably belong to some external organization that isn't even affiliated with SP.
OK, I know some people think that I have an extreme viewpoint but let me give you this analogy.
If a person comes up to you and sells a product and says that this product can make your life better/ less miserable/ gives you enlightenment, obviously people will be inclined to buy it.
Problem is, religion isn't a product that you can sell just by stating its benefits. Anyone can tell you that the religion they follow is beneficial for them but they fail to say how much time and effort they spend to get that "benefit".
Ladies and gentlemen, religion is a form of commitment to god. Only through commitment, you will feel a sense of belonging with your fellow religious friends and hence you will start to believe religion.
If you read Mitch Albom's "Have a Little Faith", you will understand this point.
So if someone sells to you religion like a product by saying how much good it has done to them, you might want to ask how committed is the person towards religion;)
And don't forget that religion is a choice; no one can force you into a religion. If someone tries to influence you into a religion, that person is just plain rude.
ps: I think some Christian's may agree with me that this isn't acceptable. And to prove that I'm not biased, my mum's indeed a Buddhist and I have Catholic, Christian and Muslim friends who are firm believer's of their religion.