Easter in Thailand ....

In a non-Christian country, Easter is just another day of the year. It just means nothing. Why shouldn't it? So it is that, as a Christian here, it seems like you have a special duty to celebrate Easter so as to show the flag, as they say.

So I was off to Good Friday services with a bunch from a Foundation for the poor in Bangkok run by the famous Fr Joe Maier, an American Redemptorist here longtime. In their van, I met their new volunteer - a young Australian male. He is here for six months to help look after the children. He is full of zeal and is just here to do some good in the world. He expresses that he has no experience of Church while he works in a Catholic school back home. I hear a conversation where he is asked to describe religion in Australia. He simply said that Australia is an atheistic country. I was shocked to hear such a blanket description. I would describe it as post-Chritian or secular but not atheistic. After all, there are many peoples that make up Australia and there are those that are part of Church - aren't there?

Still, I kept silent and I realised that, according to his own life experience, Australia is atheistic as he then said that all his friends were agnostics or atheists. So that is Australia for him. We both come from the same country but have such different experiences of it. For each of us, our experiences are valid and are just what they are. They are then reflected in how we describe our country. I can't deny his experience or his description.

Maybe celebrating Easter in a non-Christian country is not so divorced from celebrating it in Australia. It just is that in Australia, the place is on holidays and there is not the usual hustle and bustle of life.