‘Knock knock’. There is a sudden bang in my door. I go and open the door.
I see a lady outside. After seeing me she introduces herself as a member of some Christian organisation and just throws a question at me: ‘Do you believe in God?’
I stutter for a moment. I think to myself: ‘What kind of question is this?’ I simply reply: ‘Yes, I do.’ Then she starts to talk about Jesus and Christianity. From the inner core of my heart I am not interested in listening to her. I don’t know the reason and I can’t figure it out either. Is it because I was raised in mixed Hindu and Buddhist religion? Or is it because I believe in a supreme power and respect all religions? I have Hindu and Buddhist family members, I possess a Christian name, I went to a convent school, have always had diverse friends, and I was raised with an ideology that all religions lead us to a path of good deeds.
The lady is still talking. I must have been listening to her for about 5 minutes, silently, without responding to her. I can see in her face that she wants some sort of conversation from me. I say: ‘I have some work to finish and am in hurry. So, please can we talk about this later’. She doesn’t want to leave but eventually she hands me the address of some Church and leaves. I close my door, relieved.
One week later, another lady from the same organisation knocks on my door. Same question: ‘Do you believe in God?’ I act smart this time as I know what she will talk about if I say yes. So I say: ‘No, I don’t’, thinking she will leave me this time. But unfortunately she replies: ‘We neither’ and continues to ask me various questions like: ‘Why don’t you? Were there any incidents that made you to do so? ….’
I tell her about my belief that there is supreme force and about my upbringing with different religions. But she keeps saying that there is only one God. After about a minute I politely tell her: ‘Sorry I don’t want to discuss this. Excuse me’. I then close my door.
I expected that being rude would keep these marketeers of religion away, but for a while I kept receiving visits form them. Every time I acted rude and eventually the visits stopped.
Religion has always been a controversial subject. History has seen lots of wars in the name of religion. What if somebody asks me: ‘Is it right or wrong to go door to door and talk about religion and belief?’ I would simply say: ‘I don’t have any comments on marketing of religion. For me religion is a belief. Products should be marketed, beliefs shouldn’t.’