A very religious place?

      This is really kind of awkward but something that I have to deal with every day. Having moved from a large city to a small southern town, there are quite some big changes to be noticed. I was raised in a household with religious variety but the same cannot be said for this small town. You see, unlike my parents and the majority of this town, I am not Christian; I am Buddhist. There are more religious groups on campus than you can shake a stick at. I feel as if I spend the majority of my time dodging and dancing around bible study invites and “soul-saving” handouts. People are always saying really awkward things to me. I have teachers advising me to pray before a test and I am painfully dumbfounded. In the teachings of the Buddha, it is believed that praying is useless.

      I try not to be petty about it, but I am bothered that everyone assumes that I am Christian. People say things to me like “I asked God for this” or “God told me that” and try as I might to not be judgmental, these people sound like a bunch of loons to me. Please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that there is no god. I am just implying that maybe putting more time into studies might be more helpful than talking to people in other plains of existence?

      A few weeks into this semester, I was walking to class when someone tries to hand me a handout about the crucifixion that was printed to look as if it were smeared in blood. I was offended by the fact that they would choose to use blood and death as an attention grabber when talking about something good. I politely rejected the handout and continued walking when from behind me the same man yells to me “This could be your last chance!”. To be honest, this really pissed me off. I couldn’t help but turn around and call this man an asshole. I am not Christian. In fact, I believe that people who are to be the most insane people in the world, however, I would never publicly bash someone for what they did or did not believe.

      Two weeks ago, I was sitting in the lab doing my homework when a woman walks up to me and points out the little Buddha idol that I keep with me. “Are you Buddhis”? she asks. I tell her that I am and then continue with my reading. “You’re going to hell for that, you know? Worshiping anyone other than God is a sin” She complained. At this point all I wanted to do was to bash in her religiously ignorant face with her bible that she knew “Oh so well”. With a smile that hurt to force, I explained to her that just because she believed those things did not mean that everyone else did to which she replied “I just don’t want to see you go to hell”. Annoyed, I told her that Buddhist do not worship Buddha. Buddha was not a god, never had any magical powers, and never claimed to. This is not the first time that this has happened to me but I suppose that it is to be expected in a small southern town. I just wish that people would be more open-minded.