Everyone has a little bit of faith

Growing up, my parents often told me that I was Buddhist. I never really got an explanation about being Buddhist was really about. I was just told that it was something I had to be apart of. I can remember my parents taking my brother and me to the Temple a few times, but the older we got, the less often we were there. I suppose it has a lot to do with my parents not being too religious, but I figured if they were going to tell me that I am part of religion, they would at least try to teach me more about it. As I grew older, I started to learn more about the other religions of the world. I learned bits of information about Christianity and Catholicism from my friends. I realized that there were aspects of both that I believe in, as well as aspects stemming from Buddhism. And the more I learned about religion, the more I found myself relating to the broader aspects of them. I guess I managed to accept that people are allowed to believe what they want as long as it made them happy.

It is quite understandable why the topic of religion is so taboo in our society. Because the United States is considered such a large "melting pot", society is exposed to all aspects of the world. As a result, people are sometimes thrust into a religious world they know nothing about. Equality of any kind [whether it is race, gender, sexuality, or in this case, religion] has been something that people constantly seek but have yet to reach a compromise about. For some reason society has found it difficult to see that things do change over time and as a result, ideals and concepts formed in the past might have to change as well. Change really isn't a bad thing. It's more of a social compromise to keep the peace and better the our lives.

With all of the previous being said, the reason for why I'm writing this post is because of someone I went to high school with. She and I have never been really close but we have somewhat kept in touch these past few years. I realized that as time went on, She became more and more religious. She discovered something she felt passionately about and I am really grateful for that due to the troubles she was experiencing in her life. But lately her passion has gotten out of hand. She and I are mutual "friends" on both facebook and livejournal so we get updates when either of us publishes something on our respected sites. She has been posting quotes from the Bible and videos taken from church sermons. I'm ultimately fine with that but lately, her posts have been offensive. She has made comments about things from how Mormons don't believe God to how homosexuality is one of the worst traits out there. She has received comments about them and people are hurt, angry and just completely appalled that she could write/post something of such a nature. And quite frankly so am I.

She's a kind girl. But I don't understand how someone could allow themselves to be so close minded about things, especially in this time in our society. People have been struggling for mutal acceptance for as long as people can recall. People are different and as a result they have different outlooks on life. And it's really up to the people to be open minded enough to accept that. You are able to have faith and be passionate about anything but it's not right to force your ideals upon someone else.

It's one thing to feel strongly about something but it's not right for someone to force their views on someone else. Just because two people don't/can't agree on something doesn't make one of them wrong. It makes people different from one another. Needless to say, it is a very thin line and it is easy to cross. I do think She has crossed this. But oddly enough, she doesn't care. She's proud of having people being angry about her posts. She thinks it's the right way to spread the message of God. That in itself is wrong. It's not the way religion is supposed to work. At least I don't think God or Buddha or any other God would have wanted something like that.

When I think about religion, I think of something that allows people to have faith in and be passionate about. I highly doubt religion was created to divide people because of their differences. I also doubt that it was created as a means to point out who is good and who is "bad".

I have never had a problem with people having different beliefs than myself, so that is completely not the issue. I figured if I had something to say about religion, this would be the place to do it. I highly doubt anyone is offended by what I wrote, but if you are, I sincerely apologize for doing so.

And with that, Peace. Love.