Mafia network in Heaven?

I was very amused to read Gunawan Ahmad's letter of May 19. He suggests that Mr. Vleugels be immediately deported before his "(atheistic) opinion has some influence over the people's minds". It is not surprising that Mr. Gunawan has such a fearful view of the religious weakness of Indonesians, because for all the millions of daily prayers performed, Indonesia has been consistently rated the most corrupt nation on earth.

I think what Mr. Vleugels was getting at is this: What is the good of a religion if its followers cannot obey its precepts and demonstrate its usefulness in everyday life?

Former president Soeharto is ostensibly a devout Muslim, but millions of Indonesians also allege that he is totally corrupt. If we believe that Pak Harto is a sincere Muslim, are we also to assume that God is running a kind of Mafia network in Heaven?

Of course not! It would be best to stop trying to repress the views of atheists and to start putting our religion into daily practice. That way, non-believers would respect us more than they do now.

NURHANI

Jakarta