MANILA, Philippines - I logged on to Multiply one afternoon to find that someone had posted a long article about religion, the body of Christ, and his being a missionary on my guestbook. Disgusted, I deleted it right away and posted a message telling the person that if he wanted to express his beliefs, he should do it in his space, not mine.

Ignoring my request, he responded by posting yet another long ?Christian? article on my guestbook, complete with a list of Bible verses. And when I deleted it, he replied: ?Oh! you rejected Christ teaching about his Church and again you rejected Christ as your Master and Lord. My prayers are with you. I love you.?

So there I was staring at the computer screen, appalled and in disbelief. Apparently my refusal to tolerate religious propaganda had got him thinking that I'm some worldly, humanistic, pleasure-driven, possibly sluttish lost soul who needs to see the light.

I just never get how some people expect to win others over that way. ?My prayers are with you. I love you, didn't cause me to fall on my knees in repentance, with tears and conviction bursting forth from my heart. Rather, it caused me to use Multiply's 'Block User' and 'Report Abuse' features for the very first time. You see, he kept visiting my page and I just wasn't up to deleting one or two religious articles from my guestbook everyday.

As for issues about my spirituality, I do believe in God. And yes, I'm a Christian. But I cringe whenever strangers hand me religious tracts or try to start a conversation about the salvation of my soul. Once while strolling along the Academic Oval in UP, a stranger approached me and started saying, ?Sigurado ka na ba kung saan mapupunta ang kaluluwa mo pag namatay ka? Lahat tayo ay nagkasala. (Do you know where your soul is going after death? We are all sinners).?

?Um, actually I'm running late for, uh, class. Sorry.?

And as I walked away in relief, I wondered how he could be so oblivious to the fact that what he was doing actually drove people away all the more. And it's just sad because some of these people probably do mean well. I say probably because a number of them are concerned only about propagating their religion and don't really care about the people they are trying to convince. And even if on some occasions we do happen to have the same spiritual beliefs, it still makes me want to run away just the same. If I feel that way, how much more the people who really don't give a crap about God?

I write--and that's probably one of the main reasons why I'm so affected. Writing is all about effective communication. Even before I type away on the computer, I try to gauge what people will read or listen to and what will interest them. How I can make a point without being overbearing, be serious without boring them to death, how to make them laugh, etc.

And during workshops, if people misunderstand or are offended by my work, as much as possible I try to make it my problem. I adjust. The point is to be able to reach out to an audience. If I fail to do that, I don't blame it on how stupid or close-minded my readers are. Instead I take a second look at my piece and try to figure out what I did wrong and if there's a better way of saying things.

The same goes for issues of spirituality and religion. If people misunderstand and are offended by your attempts to reach out to them, you don't blame it on how they are self-centered, bitchy, worldy punks who reject God along with the most important things in life. Instead you put yourself in the other person's shoes and from there take a second look at what you have been doing.

Personally I'd rather not spring the topic on others because I learned that people will firmly believe in whatever they want. And forcing my ideologies on others will only cause them to make a mental note to never ever sit with me for lunch ever again. So not only would I not be convincing anybody, I'd be driving people away as well. Where's the purpose in that?

I tried explaining this as nicely as I could to the person who has been flooding my page with sermons. And I did it for his sake, because I didn't want him to be the kind of person who automatically drives others away. And while he has apologized, he still leaves the occasional religious article/verse on my Livejournal blog, since he can no longer send me messages via Multiply. At that point I realized it was pointless trying to reason with someone who wasn't even capable of considering other people's opinions. So I've given up trying to educate the poor guy and have resigned myself to silently deleting his comments whenever I have time.

Some have said that to live and to let live is the best way to deal with these issues today. And studying in UP, which is practically a melting pot of different cultures, convictions, and beliefs, with one person just as stubborn and strong-minded as the next, I can say that it's a good piece of advice. Just take care of the way you live your life, with as much honesty and as little pretension as possible. And if people like what they see, they just might actually want to have what you have.

Visit the author at http://writer-cat.livejournal.com