2005-01-27 - 9:21 a.m.
The other day at the studio, I was walking towards the door to the classroom and I stopped to get a bottle of water from the fridge. Right after I grabbed it, one of the girls stuck her head out the door and asked me to grab one for her - but the one I had taken was the last one. She didn't know this, so I gave my bottle to her and pretended to start grabbing another until she wasn't looking anymore, then I turned to follow her. One of the secretaries who had seen what just happened looked at me and said "Nicholas, that was a very Christian thing to do" to which I responded - "and I'm an Atheist - go figure." We both laughed a bit and I went off to class.
After class, I had a 45 minute break before the dance I'm in started rehearsing, so I was sitting in the lobby arranging my planner. One of the mothers who had come to watch her daughter dance looked up at me and said "so Nicholas, is it true what you said before - that you're an Atheist?" I told her that perhaps the word Agnostic would better describe me, but that it was true I did not subscribe to an organized religion. She took it upon herself to begin my conversion. I'm used to this - many of the girls in this dance company come from devoutly Christian families and their parents often begin religious discussions with me. We proceeded to have a very civil and interesting discussion about Christianity and why I don't subscribe to it. The following is a paraphrasing of the last part of the discussion:
Nicholas: Let me ask you a question. Christian's believe that in order to gain entrance into the kingdom of heaven, you not only have to live your life according to the Christian tenants, but you must actually recognize and accept that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and he died for your sins, correct?
Un-named Mother: Yes.
N: The issue I have with that is that a person who lives by these tenants, which amount to basic human decency, because of an innate desire to be a "good" person, but is never exposed to Christianity will go to hell. That doesn't sound right to me.
UM: Well, at this point, everyone in the world has been exposed to Christianity - there's no excuse anymore.
N: I don't think that's true - there are tribes around the globe who live in total isolation from the outside world. According to you, they would have no chance of ever making it into heaven - does that sound right?
UM: I'm not sure that is true - I think everyone has at least heard of Jesus Christ.
N: Alright. How about the Native Americans.
UM: What about them?
N: They weren't exposed to European culture until 1492 and could not possibly have heard of Jesus Christ...did all of them go to hell automatically?
(long, long pause)
UM: Well...they were all devil-worshipers anyway.
Thank the supreme un-named almighty power that right then, the Artistic Director called me into the studio to begin rehearsing my piece.
