Tea and Theology

About mid-day

Often whilst The Family Unit are sat at the kitchen table for the lunchtime cup of tea the conversation will  turn to the thorny subject of Religion. 

The conversations range from the sublime to the ridiculous and have a tendency to end in stony silence.

Mother-in Law is a fully paid up Catholic whilst I am a devote Agnostic, Wife meanwhile is a classic Libran and a born diplomat, she makes a very commendable referee . 

Todays conversation started innocently enough; I think it was about Wife's eyebrows. This naturally led onto the subject of R. 

MiL: "So what would you do if you were told you only had a month to live?"

Me: "What? I'm not sure....."

MiL: "Would you want to save yourself and join the Church?"

Me: (wondering if this is still somehow linked to eyebrows) "Probably not...."

MiL: "Then how will you get into Heaven?"

Me: "I don't really believe in heaven....."

MiL: "Oh. You think you'll come back as a plant or a flower I suppose."

I exchange a quick look with Wife who looks equally mystified, our daughter oblivious to all, continues to smear bread and butter around her forehead. 

I take a sip of tea and am reaching for a Digestive when:

MiL: "How do you account for the people in Knock who saw Our lady then?"

Me: "I don't know. I guess they saw what they wanted to see...."

MiL: "What's that?"

I think for a second, my Digestive hanging..

Me: "Suppose there were 5 people and four of them were Catholic and one of them was a muslim. The Catholics might see Our Lady but who would the muslim see ......Allah?"

MiL: "Alan? Why would they see Alan?"