by Patricia Rainford

Created on: February 03, 2009

The world is filled with all shapes, sizes, and colors of people. Equally diverse is the world of mannerisms and personalities. Even more so, every individual has their own unique views. It is everyone's right to believe how they wish. It does not make it another person's right to tell them they are wrong.

I'm speaking about religious tolerance.

I, as a Christian, have no problem with a Wiccan telling me, "Blessed Be," nor do I have a problem with a Catholic praying to the Holy Mother for my safe keeping. And I do tell some that I would keep them in my prayers or God Bless. It is called compassion and concern and should be the cornerstone of every individual, religious or not. Why would I have a problem with someone being concerned about my safe keeping?

Sadly, though, I have heard of people getting extremely angry at greetings and wishes of prosperity if it is related to a different faith then their own. Crimes are committed in the name of God. Harm comes to those who believe differently. The loss of life comes at the hands of those who believe so strongly in their religion that they feel it is their right to make judgments and pass out punishment where they see fit. Even children are harassed and threatened at their schools if they don't fall in line with the majority.

I went to school with a girl whose faith was different from the majority of the class. She was ridiculed for it. An online friend of mine lives in a country surrounded by those of a faith different from his Christianity. He fears for his life and the lives of his family every day because of it. An atheist in an online group that I am part of got so angry when someone unknowingly said, "God bless," to him that the man wrote a ten page post about why God didn't exist and left the group that he helped found five years before.

It makes me incredibly sad for our world.

The clich of "Why can't we just all get along?" rings true here. I just don't understand the person who shuns others based on their religion, as if that nose sticking up in the air will do any favors of winning the other person to their faith. Most religions of the world preach tolerance and peace towards their fellow man. Why that is ignored by extremists is beyond my comprehension.

I envision a world where the extremists will calm down, still believing in their faith, but realizing that the person next door that believes different from them actually poses no threat to them; that their neighbor's faith doesn't make them less of a person and doesn't affect them or their faith in the slightest.

Not utopia, just overall tolerance.

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