Do I look like I'm a Christian?

Ah, the things you hear at work sometime.

I don't know why it came up, but one of the Muslim women at worked asked another lady, I'll call her "Jackie", if she was a Christian.

Her reply, as is the title of this post was, "Do I look like I'm a Christian?" with a fair amount of .....almost disdain in her voice. I was thinking, well, not really any of my business, but you look about as Christian as anyone else.

"Jackie" then went on to explain that she was Indian by descent and "brown" so therefore it was a silly question. I wholeheartedly agree that it was a silly question....but not for the reasons she listed. I really don't think questions about religion, even ones as basic as that, have any place at work. I mean if you choose to declare your affiliation by wearing a turban, or head scarf, or have a pentagram tattooed on your forehead, that's your choice.... but it really shouldn't be a question that anyone should be asking.

Of course I already knew "Jackie" didn't share this opinion since she confronted me at Christmas about how lucky I was to be not working the holiday since I was a Christian (I'm not.....). She even called me a liar when I told her I wasn't. Social graces are not "Jackie"'s strongest skill.

So yeah, back to her declaration that she must not be a Christian because she's Indian. I think she needs to run some numbers. There's actually as many or more Christians in India than in Canada. On the last census info I could get, 2.3% of the Indian Population was Christian, compared with 77% of Canadians. "Er, Ren...." you say, "77% is way more than 2.3%", to which I reply....yes, but 2.3% of 1 billion-ish is as much or more than 77% of 30 million. The last numbers I could find listed India as having 24 million Christians and Canada as having 21 million.

Basically, if you're just driving down the sidewalk hitting people with your car, you're more likely to get a Christian if you're doing it in Canada, but I'd certainly suggest you try to hit just as many Indian-looking people as you did whites just to make sure you don't miss a bunch.

So, to answer you "Jackie"....yes, you do look an awful lot like a Christian.