Thine is Greatest

A Christian Woman speaks to a Muslim Man speaks to a Native Woman while a practitioner of Falung Gong goes through her meditation exercises in the background

Three young Sikhs walked by the booth, one saying so that I could hear, "Nothing for Sikhism I see".  "Actually Sikhism and Baha'i are the two that I get asked for the most."  They stopped and walked back to talk with me.  They picked up the sign that reads Art Tiles Reflecting Images of Five of The World's Great Religions.  One of them started typing into his iPhone to see if Sikhism is the 6th in line.

Actually, in a ranking by size from 2007, Sikhism is listed 9th.  Christianity and Islam are shown as 1 and 2 respectively.  Number 3 is Secularism/Non-Religious/Agnostic/Atheist - they get thrown together for this list. Hinduism is number 4.  Something referred to as "Chinese Traditional Religion" is in slot 5, evidently a counting together of Confucianism, Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, etc.  Buddhism is number 6.  Judaism, number 12.

We spent a great deal of time crafting that sign to convey an overall sense of welcome to people approaching our booth or web store. What I found is that people read with a preconceived idea and interpret any signage accordingly.  "Oh" some will say. "The Five Greatest Religions. Well, you don't have mine."  It actually reads Images of Five of the World's Great Religions.  We chose five that we were personally interested in and felt would reflect the majority of the people that we would come into contact with.  There are many more.  We didn't choose them in any particular order.  The word "great" refers to the sheer number of people following recognized religions and styles of philosophy.

Many visitors to our booth express thanks for the display of this even reflection of faith in one place, some are surprised.  I especially love the children who come running up with excited expressions and chirping voices.  "Om! That's om. We're Hindu.  We have many oms."

A young boy walks up to the booth and reads one of the other signs out loud. "Islamic Art. hmm." he says.  "We're Jews."  "Welcome" I say with a smile.   "Are you Jewish?" he asks as he watches his mother pick up and purchase a Magen David tile and a Hamsa.  "No, We just enjoy making and selling spiritual art.  I never know who I'm going to get to talk to next."

We're expanding our collection.  Keep a look out early next year for the new additions.  Sikh? Baha'i?  Perhaps, and hopefully a few more!