I will NEVER tell someone to stop believing in his/her religion. I have always respected someone’s believes.
But there comes a point at which I will say stop. And, for some reason, the fundamentalists and extremists, ESPECIALLY certain Abrahamic religions are very good at triggering that point.
I once met a boy and his father, roaming the MRT Station in Bishan (Singapore Train Station), spreading the "good word". They approached me, passed me a comic leaflet of Satan and Jesus, and being 'saved'. I was from a Catholic school, and was VERY open to learning about other religions. So I listened to what he had to say, since my friends were late.
I always liked to talk to people who are SO into religion. I like to see at which point they try to convert you. Especially extreme Christians are always at the verge of telling you how great Jesus is. Have you ever experienced that with someone who thinks of Buddhism as his religion? That's why it’s so interesting.
So, this guy man tries to wrap his head around my point of view which were pretty 'radical' because he was a 'frog in a well'. I believed that I could believe in Jesus and any other God. I kept explaining to him that I did believe in Jesus. He kept insisting that I MUST only believe in Jesus. There is only one God! My question to him was, how can a so-called mono-theistic religion believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, angels, a million saints, super angels etc, and STILL insist it's followers should only believe in ONE JESUS?!
I also told him about my impression that every Christian I’ve talked to thinks he has the right to claim a message. Every time they think to be an ambassador of something I wouldn’t understand until I come over and join their little meeting every ___day in Church. [Mind you, I loved chapel services in SJI(My catholic secondary school), HATED it in my Junior College (Methodist College). Same religion. Same Jesus.]
Guess what. He took his son and walked away.
This was about 10 years ago.
Blind faith is as damaging as a plague. Even if a BILLION people believe, they ALL can be wrong.
Richard Dawkins video about the "Virus of Faith" below is worth a watch.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7619161192220036050&hl=en
