Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A Blog Post Concerning (Religious) Toleration

See what I did there? Yeah? Yeah? *crickets* hahaha...hint: check out John Locke. But I digress (haha...right after I just started, too.)


Here's a piece that I wrote up a couple of months ago:


I was working today, when someone gave me a self-made pamphlet with bible passages in it. She was probably one of the nicest ladies that I've ever met. I thanked her and we got into talking about how I used to be really devout; I told her I'd definitely read it, but that I lost faith a really long time ago.

She said, "who knows, maybe you'll get it back one day". I told her that maybe I would, but it's very unlikely. Then, she said something that I haven't heard a brochure-pusher say before: "that's fine. I can't do anything about that. But maybe someone else can. And all I can do is pray that you will". She smiled at me & left with who I'm guessing was her granddaughter (who was pretty cute, might I add...) & her husband.

They seemed like truly happy people - and it made me remember how far I've come, with regards to religious toleration.

I've always been raised as a traditional christian. I used to feel guilty when I prayed without sleeping. I used to go to mass every sunday, and even took pride in altar serving.

Then, I lost faith. Shortly after, I realize that I made a mistake, and prayed for forgiveness. Then, I lost faith again - and I think I've changed too much to ever get it back. Most people end up finding some sort of connection with god through some hard times, but I doubt that'll be me.

That's not to say that I'm not happy; because I'm happier than I've ever been WITH religion in my life. But the difference between me now, and me a couple of years ago, is that I've learned to tolerate spirituality.

After losing my faith "for good", I could never understand how people could continue to believe in something like that after giving it so much thought. I would always think to myself: "how can you blindly believe in something that probably doesn't exist?"

A couple of years later, I began to adopt a "to each their own" attitude. I realized that if you need god in your life to give you purpose, then by all means, go for it. And that's exactly why I have so much respect for the religious people that can tolerate non-religious people - they understand that the lack of belief is just as important as the choice of believing.

While I'll probably never support a deity-centred religion, I'll always support spirituality. Some of the happiest people that I've ever met are religious; they'll also probably be happier than I'll ever be (but I think that's more temperament-related, than anything). 



Again, I think it's all about the axiom "to each; their own" - Happiness doesn't have to be rational. In fact, it could even be argued that it's rational for you to be irrational, if that's what makes you happy. But I guess I'll stop here before the pseudo-shit comes in.

Peace,


- knowledge
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p.s. I've decided to give up on getting you guys to add a tag. It's definitely appreciated - but it's an uphill battle 'cause you guys are such pussies (lol). And if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? Besides, anonymity allows you to be as brutally honest as possible - you can say what's REALLY on your mind without being embarrassed, proved wrong, or called out (aka being a giant pussy). But seriously, I'm kidding. I've realized that I'd rather you to commented and promoted discussion, even if I don't know who the fuck you are. But in my defence, it helps to know who's who (use a number, or something. At the very least, I want to know if it's the same person posting). For the people who DO post with tags, keep doing it (aka keep not being giant pussies...haha). Just kidding, guys.


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7 comments:

  1. " I realized that if you need god in your life to give you purpose, then by all means, go for it."

    Having a hard time digesting that line..

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  2. Sorry, I posted this while writing a paper, so it could definitely use some editing. I'll give it another look-over once exams are done :P

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  3. It's grammatically incorrect, it's just the whole notion of what you're trying to say.

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  4. I meant to say it's not* grammatically incorrect

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  5. As an Atheist I've been on the bad end of a lot of intolerance over the years, considering I live in a mainly Christian country, and a very christian city.

    I've always been tolerant of other people's beliefs, myself.

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  6. I have no problems with those who aren't believers I just hate it when they place my belief in such terrible light. Every time I stumble upon forums or videos concerning religious beliefs someone always says "If your God is so good why then would he say if you commit sin you will automatically go to hell" That's not true at all. If that person who probably was Christian and believes that he knows all about Christianity really well knew what he was talking about, he would know that all *my* God is asking us, is to ask for forgiveness. The belief teaches us to grant forgiveness and also accept forgiveness. I am no expert and I haven’t done a ton of research but if I remember correctly Jesus was crucified beside two sinners. The sinner on the right hand side asked to be forgiven and he was and Jesus promised to take him to heaven. Regardless whether this is true or not, my point is that Christians believe in forgiveness and that is why people who believe are generally happy. There are those who fear God, because they were taught screwed up things about the religion. I will take myself as an example. I know exactly what you mean when you were afraid when you don’t pray at night. But praying is a faithful connection to him, it cannot be forced because then it doesn’t have meaning. I’ve resigned myself from written prayers a long time ago and began praying the way I want to speak to Him. I’ve also learned to ignore priests who yell during his homily about what is right and what is wrong. I just listen to what my heart is telling me, and all God wants us to do is forgive others for their sins, forgive ourselves for our sins, help others as much as we can and cherish the life we were given. What’s so controlling about that? I know I haven’t forgiven all the people that hurt me, I also know I haven’t forgiven myself for all the things that I’ve done. But knowing someone bigger than me has already forgiven me and the people that hurt me gives me hope that I too will one day set myself free from the hurt and the guilt.

    All I’m saying is respect goes both ways. I don’t completely understand why you disbelieve in the faith and in what I believe in, but nobody else will understand why I hold on to the faith so much either. Therefore people need to share their opinions responsibly and know the difference between sharing and pressing one’s opinion. It doesn’t make me want to jump in anybody’s bandwagon when they taunt me about my beliefs. It just makes them look funny and ignorant. So let’s all respect everybody's opinion and stop patterning all Christians like they are all extremists who throw stuff at gay people. We are not all like that; some of us have gay friends you know ;)

    -KB

    ReplyDelete

 

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