Opinion Columnist
Nobody of any religion will ever be able to comprehend why everybody else doesn’t believe what he or she believes. Have they not heard the good news? Are they evil? Are they insane? Irrational? None of these reasons are why (for the most part).
Trying to get people to join your religion, or leave their religion, is an evil thing. It is wrong to tell anybody else that your beliefs are better. This is wrong because every widely accepted belief has some merit and rationale behind it. This is wrong because you are refusing to acknowledge their perspective and refusing to understand. Refusing to understand and trying to change them anyway is committing cultural genocide. It’s what Europeans did to the Native Americans and what Christians did to pagans all throughout Europe.
What is right is based on your perspective? If one person believes in indulgence without harming others, he is suited to be a LaVeyan Satanist. If another believes in limiting herself to the essentials because desire is the root of all suffering, she is suited to be a Buddhist. If yet another believes that his life is based on serving God, he is suited to be a Christian.
None of these believers are doing anything evil or wrong. They have each chosen a religion that is best for their perspectives and their worldviews, and there is nothing wrong with that.
The problem is when the LaVeyan Satanist tries to get the Christian to indulge. The Christian sees this as temptation, which is evil from his perspective, even though there is nothing wrong with it from a secular perspective. Or when the Christian asks the LaVeyan Satanist to accept God – this is futile because from the latter’s perspective, God is nonexistent.
Even when there is no successful conversion, and therefore no cultural genocide, it is still annoying. You will drive people away from you and separate people of different creeds and cultures. Those people living together are part of what makes America great. Accepting that others simply may not be interested in your religion is crucial for Americans to band together and to welcome new understanding of those with different world views.
sgexner@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
Sam, you wrote “None of these believers are doing anything evil or wrong. They have each chosen a religion that is best for their perspectives and worldviews, and there is nothing wrong with that.” However, who decides what’s evil or wrong? You? Hitler? Obama? Islamist terrorists? KKK?
You follow that with a condemnation of “…what Europeans did to the Native Americans and what Christians did to pagans all throughout Europe.” (Ah! Those evil Christians who have only done terrible things in history, as though the pagans in Europe have a record as clean as a whistle). You could have mentioned the godless and terror-filled regimes of Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler that piled millions of bodies throughout Europe.
You could have mentioned how some very religious people other than Christians have “worldviews and perspectives” that include mass slaughter. You might have mentioned that the issue of slavery was first addressed in Europe by a Christian, William Wilberforce, in England. You might have acknowledged that it was a Christian, a Baptist preacher, who confronted segregation half a century ago, or that, even now, Christian relief agencies are sending millions of Christmas shoebox gifts to needy children in struggling countries. You might have also mentioned that the nations who were the Allies in the 2nd World War that put an end to Hitler’s terrorism and genocide were- at least in those days- nations that were founded on social and moral principles that were predominately influenced by the Christian faith.
Does Christianity have bad marks at times in history? Not the real thing. True Christianity is faith in Jesus Christ and seeks to be faithful to His life and teachings. But perversions of Christianity have occurred, hoodwinked by political interests in the “name” of Christianity… The Holy Roman Empire was predominately a political machine. The Spanish who came to America, wielding swords and confiscating peoples and lands for “God and the Queen,” and the KKK burning crosses in the yards of black families. None of this was faithful to the spirit and teaching of Christ. However, people who know very little about the faith see only these examples and use them to label Christianity as a whole as oppressive. Yet, it’s still popular to say Islamist terrorists do not represent Islam, the religion of “peace.” Can’t have it both ways.
If you desire to be a courageous journalist, you have to take risks. Condemning Christianity these days isn’t one of them.