September 23, 2009
What happened to religion?
Is it just me, or is religion becoming more of a problem than a place of comfort? As a child, my parents always told me “never talk politics or religion with anyone.” I always wondered why. It was during my college years that this motto really took me to heart.
People are very different. Everyone has a story and a unique background that makes them who they are. So when something comes up that may insult their heritage or background, people can get really offensive and fast. People have the natural ability to judge others. Today’s religions are nothing but stereotypes judged from one group to another. So what do we do? Do we talk about it and risk the possibility of hate and/or crime? Do we ignore the differences and possibly hide faith,which is apart of who you are?
There is no solution. I was brought up to keep my faith quiet. Even though there are billions of people with the same belief system as me, the fear of people judging me made my family scared. I always hated this. We live in America! The land of the free where religion isn’t supposed to be judged. And yet, it is. No matter what the Constitution may say people’s actions are speaking louder than words.
Pierce quoted Mr. Madison, “the latent causes of faction are (thus) sown in every man, and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society. A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points…have in turn divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for common good.”
What Mr.Madison says is beautiful. We came to America to get away from conformity and strict rules. We came here to have a better life and to be free to make choices on how we live our lives. Religion has gotten out of control and somewhere along the lines people are using religion as an excuse for their behavior. People are forcing themselves, many times through crime, on other people.
Religion has made people scared of other religions. People are judging other religions based on a few bad apples of that culture. People over look what their beliefs have instilled and instead of loving and respecting others for their uniqueness; people hate. When the AIDS epidemic began in the 1980s, people ran away from those with the disease. There weren’t many hospitals, hospice, churches or other areas of prayer that would welcome them. When those individuals with AIDS needed help we all ran. No one was there for them.
Even in the modern world we live in today, there is very little diversity in the religions. Calendars rarely include the holidays of Judaism, Buddhist, Hindus ect. If we live in such an open world why aren’t these people’s beliefs being heard?
In the end all we have is each other. If we look back at 911 we ALL felt the same fears, we ALL lost loved ones, we ALL were effected. Every single person. It doesn’t matter where you are from, what your race is, your ethnicity, your age or your religion. We were all scared. For the first time, in a long time, religions came together. People no longer cared about the differences. We just wanted peace. Where did it go?
Instead of judging your neighbor, talk to them. If they have a different faith than you, take some time to learn about it. Many faiths are very similiar and yet we find reasons to “hate” one another.
“Love your neighbor as thyself.” This can create great change.
