Projects like Logos Hope, ‘the world’s largest floating bookstore’ that’s currently docked in Bangkok, Thailand just annoy me. Couched as a way to provide inexpensive books, educate people and to be involved in charitable projects, the real truth about Logos Hope and its floating bookstore is it’s more of an attempt to convert people to Christianity than anything else. That Logos Hope is now docked in Bangkok, Thailand for two weeks irritates me even more.
Thailand is a Buddhist country. Not only is it a Buddhist country, it’s 97 percent Buddhist meaning the vast majority of Thais are Buddhist and, quite likely, happy with their Buddhism. That a project like Lagos Hope thinks its appropriate to come to Thailand pretending to offer one thing when, in all reality, their goal is to raise money for and to promote another (promotion of and conversion to Christianity) is annoying, inappropriate and, quite frankly, more than a little evil.
In fact, I’ve never understood why so many Christians feel the need to not only believe their religion is better than anyone else’s but also often feel the need to cram it down other people’s throats — usually unasked. Particularly when Christianity, overall, has contributed to far more of the world’s problems (the Crusades, numerous wars etc) than a philosophy like Buddhism ever has.
Logos Hope does exactly the same thing — pretends to be selling you inexpensive books and a way to ‘meet the crew’ of a large ship when, in reality, you’re there so that the crew can talk to you about Christianity, you can watch a couple of Christian-themed videos and they can sell you ‘appropriate books’ (just check out how many Christian-themed books there are aboard, you’ll be astounded).
Personally, I’d steer clear of the Logos Hope in Bangkok because, as much as I love buying books, I don’t like being lied to or being offered something under false pretenses.
Luckily, however, Thais are smarter than most Christians who come to Thailand seem to think they are. They will be very nice and polite when being spoken to about Christianity while on the Logos Hope and will take the leaflets and the other junk offered.
But, will most Thais ever consider for one second converting to Christianity? No, of course they won’t, as is evidenced by the extremely low conversion rate to Christianity in Thailand. Thais enjoy being Buddhist and, let’s face it, just have more sense.
As for getting books at inexpensive prices in Bangkok, rather than visit the Logos Hope, why not visit somewhere like Dasa Books near Emporium Mall? They have over 16,000 books in stock on any given day, their staff are lovely and they even have an awesome coffee shop and cafe. Plus, it’s right next to the skytrain.
Oh, and to top it off, nobody at Dasa Books is going to try to convert you to Christianity when all you’re doing is looking for a good book to read.