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THE WORLD FAIR OF RELIGIONS
THE WORLD FAIR OF RELIGIONS
My friend and I went to the World Fair of Religions.
Not a trade fair.
But the competition was fierce, the propaganda loud.
The handouts at the Jewish Stall said that God was All-Compassionate and the Jews were his Chosen People.
The Jews. No other people were as Chosen as they.
At the Moslem Stall we learnt that God was All-Merciful and Mohammed his only Prophet.
Salvation comes from listening to God’s Prophet.
The message at the Christian Stall was:
God is Love and there is no salvation outside the Church.
Join the Church or risk damnation forever.
On the way out I asked my friend what he thought of God.
He replied, “He’s bigoted fanatical and cruel.”
Back home, I said to God, “How do you put up with this sort of thing?
Don’t you see they have been giving you a bad name for centuries?”
God said, “It wasn’t I who organized the Fair.
In fact, I’d be too ashamed to visit it.”
The song of the bird
Anthony de Mello
Anthony de Mello
