I remembered Mrs. Keino this week when I read about the confrontation between the Rev. Al Sharpton and Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney. You see Mrs. Keino, in her Christian charity and warmth, pulled no punches at C.R.E. She would direct the pronunciations of the Old Testament God at the little Hindu children and warn them to quit their idol-worshipping ways. She was trying she said, to do her best for them, to save them for Jesus. She did not say so explicitly, but she was teaching us from early on that our God was true, and the Hindu conception of God false.

And so to Rev. Sharpton who declared in a debate on religion and politics at the New York Public Library with atheist author Christopher Hitchens that, ‘as for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don't worry about that.' Being Al Sharpton, and black he received a lot of flak from the media and from America, but his opinions are just the sort that are repeated up and down the country every day with regard to religions different than Christianity. Then again you would say, most religions teach exclusivity. Why for example should Al Sharpton endorse The Latter Day Saints when his faith decrees that they are apostates?

When I brought this issue up with friends, I realized that beneath the façade of brotherliness, there's a lot of self-righteousness and deceit. I was informed for example that Mormons like Romney and Jehovah's Witnesses are members of dangerous, brainwashing cults. There was consensus that Scientologists ( the subjects of a recent Panorama exclusive) are not part of a religion at all but a band of dangerous zombies whose leaders are out to control their flock's lives completely. Mainstream Protestants and Catholics were more accepting of each other, although many of the Pentecostals contend that the Catholic Church is a devil-worshipping cult and the Pope, the embodiment of the anti-Christ. A Catholic friend was vehement in her rejection of Legio Maria, a Satanic Cult she called it, her support for a prominent adherent of the organization notwithstanding. All in all, everyone seems to think they are on the right path, and everyone else on the road to hell.

Speaking of hell. Later on in my school career, we had emotional sessions in the Chapel once every year. These events, titled 'Challenge Weekends' were not for the faint-hearted. Speakers, loud music, dance and the menacing use of scripture was utilised in ensuring only the most obdurate did not attain salvation and give themselves over to Christ. I was most terrified of one movie that was used to drive home the point that if we did not comply with the threats of hell-fire, we were likely to die any day and be punished for eternity. In the movie, a young man of 20 met a gruesome death in a car accident before descending into the burners, eternally damned.

Last week also, Jerry Falwell, spirited godfather of the American right and a great supporter of George Bush died. He was most famous for, among other things, declaring that 9/11, AIDS and Hurricane Katrina were punishments from God for the lukewarm nature of American religion and the strength of its secularists. He also taught that the anti-Christ is a male Jew.

Strangely, as an atheist who hates everything he stood for, I am still relieved that there is no hell for him to go to. Let there be peace, and some more tolerance. Amen.