Eskimo: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?"
Priest: "No, not if you did not know."
Eskimo: "Then why did you tell me?"
~Annie Dillard
This afternoon, while I’m taking the lift alone and deciding where to have my late lunch in this packed Orchard area, a big black man (an American I think) joined me from the 20th floor. He immediately asked which level is the restroom. I told him that every level has a restroom usually found in west corner of the building. Apparently he needed to pee.
“Are you from the Philippines?” he asked.
I said yes.
“I’ve been in Davao.” He said with those large teeth.
I just smiled and asked politely, “What were you doing in Davao?”
“Preaching.” He proudly said. “Are you from somewhere near Davao?”
“No. My hometown is around 256kms from Manila. Davao is more than 1000kms from Manila” I replied. He just nodded.
“Let me show you something.” He moved towards me and pulled something from his leather satchel. He handed me a fairly thick book with his half body picture on the cover with his name (that I automatically forgot).
“It’s me.” He said pulling another book with the same religious concept, just different layout.
15th floor. More people joined our little ride, so we settled at the rear end of the lift.
Being familiar with the situation, I had to cut the chase.
“I’m actually an atheist.” I said as carefully as I can while returning the book. You can imagine the look at his face. He was looking at me like I was some kind of crazy. Me, on the other hand, managed a forced smile.
I don’t really like announcing my stand when it comes to beliefs. It’s like admitting that you’re gay. I know the society too well. It’s almost synonymous to stupidity. I won’t be surprised if I’d be stoned to death one day.
But there is one thing I love about Singapore, no matter what’s your belief or lack thereof, Singaporeans will never bother you. Atheism (sometimes known here as freethinker) is accepted here. This is the country that will sincerely smile back at you even after you declared that you don’t believe in God. When you do that in the Philippines, you are automatically condemned to suffer in Hell for all eternity.
While this man is suffering from disbelief from what he just heard, other passengers, Singaporeans, didn’t bother.
“You don’t believe in Jesus?” he finally asked after gathering his senses. Some passengers turned and looked at us.
I just shook my head.
“You’re going to Hell.” He brutally said. But surprisingly, I’m not surprised at all. I just smiled.
“Really? This is the very first time someone ever said that to me here in Singapore.” I said.
“You don’t believe in Jesus then you’re going to Hell, that’s for sure.” He replied. Some passengers finally shifted their attention to our little conversation. Maybe, they find it interesting somehow. Some stopped talking to each other, some stopped playing with their phone screens.
“Okay. So all atheists will go to Hell?” I decided to play.
“That’s right.” He said slowly nodding.
“So that means that our Muslim brothers and sisters will go to Hell as well as they don’t believe in Jesus the way Christians do, is that right?” My first card.
The man fell silent for a second.
A young man standing at the corner waited eagerly for the man to reply.
On the 8th level, a car park, the lift suddenly stopped for some reason and all the passengers are forced get out to wait for another lift to take us down the main lobby.
“It’s a different case.” He finally said while we're looking at the arrow down indicator at the top of the elevator door.
“Different case? What do you mean?” I asked.
“Sorry brother, I really have to find a restroom.” Then he was gone. We were on a car park level, I really wished that Jesus will help him find a restroom.
I’m not trying to antagonize the man, but for me, promoting faith with a threat of eternal damnation once you disagreed is just plain stupid.
I don’t really care if you believe in a flying purple unicorn as long as you keep it to yourself. And if you need to insist that there really is a flying purple unicorn, please improve your argument.
