Thread on tackling religious conversion. (From a talk by Osho.)
1. A Christian padre visited a tribal village in India. He asked the tribespeople who their God was. They replied, "Lord Rama." The padre said, "Forget Rama. My god is greater than yours. I can introduce you to him."

2. The villagers said, "How can you say your god is greater than Lord Rama?"
The Christian was well prepared. He had surveyed the area beforehand and had come to know that the tribes in the area worshiped Rama.

3. He took two statues out of his pocket - one of Rama and the other of Jesus. Both idols were exactly the same size and of similar appearance. He said, "Bring me a bucket of water."

4. When the bucket arrived, he said, "I will place both Jesus and Rama in the water. The stronger god will float and the weak will sink to the bottom."

5. The cunning padre had got the Rama statute made of iron and painted it in a wood finish. The Jesus statue was made entirely out of wood. So the predictable happened - Rama sank quickly to the bottom of the bucket while Jesus floated.

6. "There you go," shouted the padre in fake excitement. "My god is stronger than yours. Are you ready to convert to my religion? If Rama cannot protect himself, how can he protect you?"
The innocent villagers were confused but were inclined to accept the padre's logic.

7. While this was happening, a sadhu was watching from a distance. He now arrived at the scene and told the villagers: "This is not a real test. Do you know what test Rama gave Sita?"
The villagers said, "Yes, of course, Agni Pareeksha."

8. The sadhu said, "Correct. A water test is lame. We only accept a test by fire. Let's see whose god can withstand fire."

9. The padre became nervous and started arguing against a second test but the tribespeople told him to back off. They quickly started a fire and threw both the idols into the flames. Within minutes, Jesus was burnt to ashes while Lord Rama came out shining and good as new.

10. Whether the tribespeople realised the padre's trickery or whether they accepted Lord Rama's supremacy over Jesus isn't known. But they chased the padre out of their village.

And that's how everyone should deal with charlatans.

Ends