Fast Food Evangelist II

Two boys star in this sad little scene.

One, a very pimply teenager, wearing the uniform of ITE College East. Sullen and angry, he trudges into Macdonalds. His skin is scarred and red with acne, he is scrawny and has a very pronounced jaw. He is painfully shy as he looks through his lashes at the world. Self conscious, and socially inept.

The second, a slightly pudgier boy, short cropped hair, self righteous. He was preaching to another socially inept teenage boy before. This teenager with wild eyes talks about how all the ah-bengs in Singapore should all be beaten up by the police and have their tattooes all scratched off their flesh. Pudgy boy does not respond, tragically. Perhaps by not responding, he is encouraging the hate?

Pudgy boy tells pimply teenager, "Today I want to talk to you about giving. Experience the joy of giving: tithing, you may want to write that down, tithing."

Pimply boy scribbles frantically in a tiny notebook.

"But first i have a gift for you."

*pushes a plastic bag forward*

*Pimply boy opens the bag*

Surprise surprise, its a bible.

Pudgy boy starts to preach, "Turn to *blah**blah* Matthew, Verse 41."

"Do you understand the meaning of giving? Giving to God?!" he says with passion, reading from a booklet.

*Pudgy boy recites* *And recites*

I hear words like "sacrifice", "gift", "willingness", "tithing means 10% of your earnings", "I know when i give to God, God never fails to bless me." "For example, when last week I gave money, this week, my dad gave me extra pocket money.", "tithing is given through the church", "tithing can also help the church with events", when we give the tithing of 10% of our money, God will give us back much more."

"When we give to God, for example, when I was challenged to give 50$ to God. And I did, and then the next day, my dad actually gave me 200$. That is God blessing my father to give it to me."

"How much to you save monthly? This is a good time to set aside some money for giving. How much do you save a day?", "6$? Let me calculate, that's 6X5, 30$. *Uses calculator from handphone, 10% of 30$ is...", "You can give at the beginning of the month or at the end.","So you can see, when you start giving you can see all the rewards. We should give out of our hearts."

"Now is May 11th. So by the 27th of May, you can give $12. Giving is important. When you give, God will give you back."

"Invite your friend.", "Don't worry if this is your first time to give, don't be scared".

My heart sinks deeper and deeper with every word pudgy boy tells pimply teenager.

Richard Dawkins said it simply:

...It's a pity, but it can't help being the case, that because children have to be suckers for traditional information, they are likely to believe anything the grown-ups tell them, whether true or false, right or wrong. Lots of what the grown-ups tell them is true and based on evidence, or at least sensible. But if some of it is false, silly, or even wicked, there is nothing to stop the children believing that, too. Now, when the children grow up, what do they do? Well, of course, they tell it to the next generation of children. So, once something gets itself strongly believed - even if it is completely untrue and there never was any reason to believe it in the first place - it can go on forever.

Could this be what has happened with religions ? Belief that there is a god or gods, belief in Heaven, belief that Mary never died, belief that Jesus never had a human father, belief that prayers are answered, belief that wine turns into blood - not one of these beliefs is backed up by any good evidence. Yet millions of people believe them. Perhaps this because they were told to believe them when they were young enough to believe anything...

(Good and Bad Reasons for Believing)

But how do I let pimply teenager see this?

As pudgy boy stands up to leave, I lean over and tap him on his shoulder. Passing him a pen and a piece of paper, I smile winningly and ask him to jot down the name of the church he is from. He obliges, beaming to himself, perhaps he has converted yet another?

"Hope Church Singapore."

We have science, we have technology. We have proof, we have evidence. Yet, we still have this. Blind and irrational ignorance.

I have pictures. Surreptiously taken with my phone, dozens of photos taken of the two boys. It will be posted, oh yes, it will be posted.

[Previous Fast Food Evangelist - Part 1]