Some months back, I visited an incredibly beautiful place, which happens to house the Santa Maria de Montserrat cathedral. Mass was just ending, and a priest was handing out what seemed to be their equivalent of prasaad, so my colleague and I went up to him. He asked in Spanish if we were Christian, and when we said no, shook his head and turned away.
Yesterday, on Guru Purab, I visited a gurdwara after a long, long time. As I was leaving, the priest sitting near the door stopped me and sent me back inside, because I hadn't noticed that prasaad was being handed out inside.
And, no I'm not a Sikh either.
What a difference.
And yet, there are complete asses in this world who will say such things about their own country.
Yes, I know the two things probably aren't comparable. But still.
5 comments:
I don't want to turn this into a religious comparison but some sects of Christianity, Roman Catholicism in particularly, tend to be exclusionary. Some of my own family have turned to more open versions like Protestantism.
Either way, I think religion is a way of life more than anything else. And a way of life should always welcome others.
^ that, pretty much. 'tis just how religions work. Some more accepting, some more restrictive. To each their own.
It's true, Catholicism is very exclusionary. You can't even receive communion if you're Protestant (which I think is the Christian prasaad you're talking about).
It would be interesting to see whether you are given communion in an INDIAN church. I am not sure they do as a matter of fact.
lovely post; a small seemingly meaningless incident can be a statement about something as complex as religion.
and so sweet of you to add my blog post on your shared items... :) :)
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