My sentiments exactly

Was browsing through my blog reading list and found this piece by RPK which brought smile to my face. Here's the excerpts:

"One million or even 100 million poor and starving Africans converting to Islam is not something to be proud of. But if Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, was to become a Muslim then that is cause to celebrate with the slaughter of 100 camels and 300 sheep. That proves beyond any shadow of doubt that Islam is the correct religion and it further proves that I was right all along in subscribing to Islam. Hey, even Prince Charles agrees with me and Prince Charles is no ordinary human being.

This ‘we won’ and ‘we were right all along’ is not only a Muslim obsession but also an obsession of all religions. So before you take this as a cue to start your Islam-bashing please note that the word ‘Islam’ can be replaced with the word ‘Christianity’, ‘Hinduism’ or whatever. No religion is exempted from this ‘competitive spirit’ and the obsession to ‘prove itself’ by the converts it attracts -- and the higher the profile of the convert the higher your win and the stronger your message of being ‘right’."

Link below:

http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/23724/84/

I was just thinking of the very thing. And he is very right to say that it doesn't happen with said religion only, it is a universal phenomenon. Perhaps many followers of a religion they subscribe to think that having people convert to their religion makes them winners. Well if the convert does so because they have found their truth and peace, good on them. But as RPK pointed out, that is not always the case.

In the end, what counts is one's own belief, and how that belief guides one to be a better person, to be a contribution to the human race. How I wish people realize that...