Abstraction is a curious thing, to put it mildly, because it belongs to a process known as selective perception where the person concerned ignores some characteristics of any stimuli (in this instance, religion per se), concentrating on a limited number of larger characteristics, which are in turn arranged into patterns called classifications. Such classifications are predicated on characteristics tendentious to the stimuli the person or group is involved with.

Mr Justice Black, in delivering his summation in a case involving freedom of speech, in the American Supreme Court, said that the freedom (as stipulated in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights) was not absolute and a rabbi cannot go into a Catholic church and say what he pleases (proselytise) and, conversely, a Catholic priest cannot go into a synagogue and preach (proselytise) his faith. It was a myth, added Justice Black, to believe one can say what one likes, where one likes, when one likes.

I doubt, for the present, a law will be passed to inhibit the public proselytiser. It may happen if the situation arises where such an action can or will contribute to civil strife or disturbance (for example, religious riots). The same attitude is taken in America where jurisprudence has the doctrine of constitutional relativity to deal, especially, with the Bill of Rights, should civil strife or danger to the nation threaten.

In this context, Ms Wee has to accept the inconvenience and, as she sees it, invasion of her private space. Some religions make it an 'article of faith' for their flock to proselytise (an abstraction), in the manner Ms Wee has elucidated. It is not an infraction of law to do this, provided the proselytiser does not perseverate after being informed of disinterest. If the action continues into harassment or duress, it becomes a different matter.

Dudley Au