My faith

There is a group on Facebook and called :
"I'm a Buddhist... and I'm proud to say it!!"
The creator is not Asian.

This is what was stated in the 'description' :

It seems like everyone on my friends list is joining some group about how much they love jesus, so I'm making a group to support the underdogs, and remind them all that less than 31% of the world is christian. So many people forget that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other religions in the world that are equally, if not more, valid than christianity. Having studied the information and propeganda of every religion I could get my hands on, I came to the very obvious realization that Buddhists have been lightyears ahead of the rest of the spiritual world for a very long time!

I am also a Buddhist and I am also proud to say it.

After I left school, my first job was with SIA. The Christian cell groups were very active. I was young, just left school, naive and impressionable. I was persuaded by colleagues to attend church, much to my parents' disapproval. I was not baptized and stayed away from church not long after. I had observed going-ons which I had reservations about.

I recalled the group renting a landed property in Thomson and they were displeased when they found that another group had also rented a place nearby. I didn't understand what all the fuss was about, as afterall aren't they of the same faith?

Then, there were the sharing sessions, where some members shared how they denounced their former religion to become Christians. They condemned other religions and called some of them cults. Witnessing those sessions disturbed me considerably, which was a blessing in disguise for me as that was probably the push-factor that made me stay away from church, to my parents' relief.

My parents were Taoists and also engaged in ancestral worship. I had a strict upbringing and filial piety was the order of the day, and to treat my ancestors' tablets without due respects was something which I cannot condone.

Later, I realised that I always found comfort when I visited the Goddess of Mercy temple in Waterloo Street. I wanted very much to become a Buddhist and started looking for a master, nevermind that my knowledge of theories on Buddhism was practically nil. From then on, I had always considered myself a Buddhist, and I have also found my master through a primary school classmate.

This is just my personal experience with a particular church and a particular group of Christians and I am aware that this does not represent Christians nor churches all over. I do have Christian friends who respect my choice of faith and other religions.