Preaching to the Indifferent

While I was walking through the town centre the other day I saw this guy preaching. There he was, giving his spiel, regardless of the fact that absolutely no one was paying any attention to anything he said. These guys usually attract some sort of crowd, even if it is only a couple of kids playing truant and a stray dog. But this guy had nobody. It was a bit like Tim Westwood doing the afternoon shift on Radio One Extra - all the noise and fury was there, but nobody was listening. It must be soul destroying. I mean, one minute you are a top rap DJ on national radio, next thing you know you are stuck in a digital back water without an audience. It must have been pretty dispiriting for the preacher as well. Perhaps Westwood should try doing his show on a soapbox in a town centre. He'd probably reach more listeners.

I can't help but feel that they were both taking the wrong approach - rap is never going to work in the drive time slot and trying to remind harried shoppers of their mortality will likewise never be a winner. Trust me, just as I don't particularly want to have my eardrums assaulted by some gangster rapper telling me about his ho's and bitches whilst I'm stuck in traffic, neither do people struggling home from Sainsbury's, laden down with shopping, want to be told that they're inevitably going to die. For this was his message: that no matter how much you tried to ignore it, the grim reaper would catch up with you. I'm guessing that he went on to emphasise that, as a consequence of our mortality, we must follow the righteous path to ensure our place in heaven, (I was quickly out of earshot, so I can't be sure what he said exactly). Which, of course, is the big flaw of most religions: they concentrate far too much on promising you rewards after you are dead. I'd be more impressed if they focused more on improving the situation here and now. Besides, surely the promise of posthumous rewards in return for following the creed undermines the whole point of most faiths - that your motivation for doing good should be purely altruistic? Which is why I've long been convinced that it only atheists who can act in a truly altruistic manner. We're not expecting eternal life in return for our efforts. Just some ho's and bitches...