Forced to listen to religious dogma on bus

I RECENTLY travelled on an Intercape bus from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town and, for hours, was obliged to sit through a religious service that began and ended with prayer, included at least four video sermons and half a dozen dramas, all with a particular religious message.

It is clear that the owners of InterCape have taken it upon themselves to proselytise their passengers. Short of plugging my ears with wax, I could not block out the sound.

Ours is a multi-cultural society, in which people are free to adhere to a variety of faiths or reject them all. People are free to share their beliefs, but it is outrageous that atheists, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims are compelled to sit through a religious service that is entirely alien to their personal belief system.

Intercape will probably reply that there is a line in small print at the bottom of their ticket sleeves that reads: “Entertainment: we have introduced family friendly material promoting the gospel on all routes,” which I would require a magnifying glass to read. They say nothing on their tickets about conducting religious services on their buses. They should advertise the fact in large letters under their logo on all their buses.

I would like to know how the owners of this company would feel if they had to travel between cities on a rival company’s bus that offered prayers according to Hindu or Muslim rites.