Yesterday on the train home a guy sitting next to me tried to evangelize me. He was a young Chinese guy, got on at the Columbia stop so it's probable he's part of the Campus Crusade or whatever it may be. He first asked me if I was a Christian, I said no, and that was about the last word I got in. He launched into the usual monologue that presumes I know nothing whatsoever about the religion, and yet at the same time presumes quite a bit, because it is so rambling and disjointed that if I were truly ignorant I would undoubtedly be completely lost. Because you just have to open yourself to the lord...you see he created us in his image...of course we don't have to try to sin, we sin all the time... there's really no attempt to establish the basics. With only a few stops before I got off, I was not particularly interested in a debate, and it was obvious that he was not interested in dialogue of any kind. I also can never bring myself to grow hostile and tell him what a jerk he is to interrupt my Japanese study by presuming that he's going to completely change my beliefs in the course of my commute. So instead I just zoned out and listened to the sound of his voice. He had a sort of interesting accent, a mix of softened consonants and some vaguely British vowels. At one point he tried to pretend there was some good reason for him picking me out by pointing to my Nihongo textbook as he said "that's why we may do so many things, learn many languages, and yet still we are not satisfied" (you can guess the solution). Oh, now it all makes sense! He could see that my language study was really a cry for help.

I think the tendency of people like this guy to ramble about this and that aspect of their religion with seemingly no thought of his own behind what he is saying, obviously just reciting what he has been told again and again since his youth, contributes to the impression of being 'brainwashed.' Once he knew I was an eligible target he appeared to have no real interest in whether or not I understood or agreed with anything he was saying. Perhaps he was just trying to feel good about himself for performing his duty, even if the attempt was half-hearted.