Peter Jones genuinely liked his neighbours, the Mitras. They were kind, warm, friendly and respectful. They were also high achievers, with Seema Mitra being a nuclear engineer and her husband Arijit, a pediatrician. They were raising two wonderful children who would no doubt inherit their parents' work ethics and admirable character. They often did charity work and helped those less fortunate than them.
But the Mitras' goodness was of no use, unless and until they accepted The One True God that Peter believed in. Every day, Peter prayed for them. A devout believer, he wished his neighbours would stop worshipping those "idols of sticks and stones" and would turn to the One True God and his messenger.
After all, accepting the True Faith was the only way they would get into heaven. Peter held nothing but admiration for the Mitras, for he and his family too had experienced their kindness.
Arijit had treated Peter's son free of cost. They had even helped him and his wife out financially on one occasion. He hated the idea of these good people being condemned to the fires of hell for all eternity.
They would be saved from that dire fate if only they accepted God. THE God, not the multiple false gods, that the Book had called demons, that they worshipped.
In fact, Seema didn't even worship any gods. She called herself an agnostic, who was only drawn to the philosophy associated with all those gods in her faith.
What was even more strange was that her belief system did not reject her for not being a devout believer. She and Arijit had once explained to Peter that their belief system consisted of multiple schools of thought that may even contradict each other, but still co-existed in harmony.
This utterly perplexed Peter. The Book had clearly said that those who strayed from the path were damned. But his neighbours spoke of a system with many different ways to live. This made no sense!
Did their faith not punish those who refused to believe in their gods? He had once asked, only out of curiosity.
Not at all, Arijit had replied. The only thing that would get them sent to hell would be any act that causes harm. Otherwise, even criticism of the Gods would not result in any kind of punishment. Because according to this culture, even the gods are imperfect.
Now this was just absurd. For what kind of a God did not enforce his will through fear? Peter had spoken to the Preacher about his confusion. The Preacher told him that the fact that all those false gods did not enforce their will, was proof that they were indeed false. For God was meant to be feared. Those false gods aren't feared by their followers because they're incapable.
Peter took comfort in these words and admonished himself for ever having doubted the Faith and the Word of the Book.
With great effort, he was able to silence all those questions that arose in his mind.
Questions about why the Mitras were so willing to participate in his religious holidays, but Peter's Faith forbade him from joining in theirs.
Why the Mitras could speak about The One True God with respect, even though they did not believe in Him.
And why the One True Faith required Peter to denounce their gods as demons.
The Book was the Word, Peter constantly reminded himself. And with the guidence of the Preacher, he was able to push away all questions from his mind and silence any kind critical thinking that made it's way into his head.
His passage into heaven was guaranteed.
