On the dashboard, a cross that looked similar to this

Stuck near the steering wheel, an 'Our Lady of Lourdes' Holy Water bottle

(Note: these aren't actual pictures; I felt that taking a photograph of the actual interior of the cab would be insensitive to the cab driver)

For those who may not understand why these two items are 'conflicting', here's why, briefly: Our Lady of Lourdes signifies the Virgin Mary and Roman Catholics like me revere her and pray to her. On the other hand, the cross on his dashboard is usually carried by Christians, who do not believe in the Virgin Mary.

I was curious for the first few minutes but decided to keep to myself because I did not want to seem like I was confronting anyone. The cab driver was very friendly and starting making small talk with me soon after I boarded the cab. In one way or another he touched on the subject of religion and curiosity got the better of me so I asked, "Are you a Catholic?"

Without hesitation he said "Oh. My wife's a Catholic. I'm a Methodist." That took me by surprise. For one, it was pretty uncommon for two people with different religions to marry because of possible conflict of interest (religion of their future children, for example). Second, I was worried he was going to talk about how he found faith in the Lord amongst other inspirational stories. Not that I am against it, but I was just not that keen on listening to another sharing because I was really tired. 

What surprised me the most was how he did not preach a single word. At all. Instead, he told me stories on how his relief cab driver was a Buddhist and how he was very open-minded to compromise should his relief feel uncomfortable with a bible in his glove compartment, the cross on the dashboard and the holy water bottle near the steering wheel. He also understood that during the seventh month, he was willing to let the relief cab driver hang his beads on the mirror in the cab. I'm not going to bore you with the other stories he told me but I did ask one rather sensitive question.

"Was there any conflict of interest between you and your wife when it comes to what church you attend regularly?" 

I nearly wanted to fling myself out of the cab for asking such a sensitive question and I was about to apologise when the question escaped from my lips. He told me that his wife had lost faith for the past nine years and attended his church just to accompany him. He also had stopped going to church for the past year and both of them have been trying to rediscover their religious journey. This weekend he decided not to go to work and start going to church, bringing his entire family with him. He was planning to go to the Catholic church with his wife first, before going to the Methodist church. That's true compromise right there.

Before I left the cab, his last words left this huge impression of me.

I found it cute that he was apologising profusely for talking about religion throughout the entire cab journey and he was ashamed of being a chatterbox before I alighted the cab.

I told him not to worry about it and that I enjoyed the conversation.

Because this is exactly what religion is about. Connecting with your religious figure and finding out who you truly are.