Hey Satan!

A guy I used to be best friends with grew up a Muslim. His parents were devout Muslims, and he practiced to a certain extent as well. Somewhere along the line though he started questioning and doubting his religion. He couldn't find any answers until he went to see a priest. From then on he started to believe in God and Christianity. Great! Good for him, he seemed happier, he had some sort of understanding and even a fascination with his religion instead of living in uncertainty. I was happy for him.

Pretty soon though, he got really frightened: his parents, his sister, his whole family is going to Hell. Simply put, in his new-found religion, people who don't accept Jesus as their savior go to Hell, and well, there's no Jesus in Islamic faith. In his mind, all of his loved ones were now doomed. It became a HUGE problem in his life.

We grew apart for one reason or another, but I never really thought about his situation again until after reading Hey Nostradamus! His doubt turned into a complete shift of values, which turned into a mind-blowing revelation about Heaven and Hell and the people he loves. I have never taken religion to that extreme in my mind... but then again I am not a religious extremist.

By the same logic, and from a Christian standpoint, the majority of people on Earth are already checked in for eternal damnation. That doesn't seem right. Christianty as a whole seems more and more to me like 'Youth Alive!' Members are automatically regarded as VIPs by some divine being. Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Catholics - they all have their own views on the afterlife... who decides which is right and which is wrong? Why is there a wrong answer? I guess these are questions of faith, faith in one's own beliefs. How about this one: If Christianity is about love and compassion, acceptance and forgiveness, how can it damn everyone who doesn't believe in God? It's a conditional compassion. What about the people who have never heard of Jesus? What about the wars that have been fought over this and many other religions? Where does a person (or army) draw the line? I could go on and on.

Coupland has accomplished his goal: he's instilled some doubts in me. I'm not doubting my own faith however, I'm doubting faith in general. I don't have answers, just many, many more questions... but what is literature's purpose if not to raise questions? I don't think the answers even exist.