Spread the word?

I am a Christian...
Why am I one? Well I was born as a Christian.. i guess for the past 7-8 generations we have been Christians.. but somewhere down the line (or up the line rather) around 52 AD when St Thomas set foot on the shores of India, my forefathers who were Hindus would have converted their faith to Christianity....

I dont know what would have made them choose Christianity as a religion. I dont know if things would have been different had they not. Frankly I dont think things would have been very different, except for the fact that I can eat meat easily now :)

So if all of us mallu christians, and most of the christians in the Asian region have been converted to the religion at some point of time or the other, why is it that a discussion on the same topic raises huge furore amongst both the christian as well as the non christian communities?

Religious conversion has always been a topic which has confused and fascinated me... Beyond the points about religious freedom, protecting ones own culture, christian missionaries being CIA agents etc etc. there are some fundamental questions which havent been answered till now.

On what basis can people who promote religious conversion compare between different forms of religion? Religion is a personal belief in a supernatural force. Its a form of faith in some sort of power that helps guide our lives to a better end. It gives humans hope, something which helps mankind to exist in the most difficult of circumstances. In such a scenario, how does it matter what sort of religion you follow to achieve that state where you are filled with hope for a better future? People who promote religious conversion have been accused of promoting their religious practices as the sure-fire way to achieve "salvation" or "heaven" or a better "after-life" experience. I believe that every religion achieves the same purpose; and there is no "better" way to get to a "higher status" with God.

Why is religion about a community and numbers and not about a personal belief and experience? Why is it that we still keep track of the number of people from a particular religion versus others? Why do we strive to build bigger churches, taller temples, wider mosques? When and how did religion become a collective movement? I am not well read, but as far as I know, all religions try to inform the individual on how to lead a better life. Religion as a collective movement to express solidarity and strength of one group of individuals versus others is more of a man-made phenomenon. If that is the case then how does it matter if x% of people in 1 religion move to another?

When does charity end and convincing begin? Religious establishments have helped the world and society in many ways - schools, hospitals, charitable trusts etc from all religions have helped in raising the levels of education and health care in society. But when these movements start driving their agenda to the people who come in contact with it, the charity becomes no longer charity, but more of an agenda that is being drilled down the minds of the people.

I guess the topic is a bit too over my head to put it into 1 blog entry, the more i think about it the more questions come up, with answers which i dont know and i may not be able to figure out....