Blast From the Past II: Religous Intolerance Intolerance

(From January 9th, 2007)

Ok, so there are a lot of undesirable things about Indiana. As you can tell from some of my past blogs, I really don't like this place. (Not because its just not home, but there's no real spirit or vibrance here...) To add to my dislike of this place I'll introduce the following.

As I was walking around campus today, I noticed one of the workers, (no doubt a longtime Indiana resident), in a discussion with another worker. I caught the tail end of the discussion, but I at least got a pretty good idea of what they were talking about. Apparently, one of the staff members turned down a chance to go to a holiday party due to a conflict with a holy month. (Chances are that it was an Islamic Holy month.) Anyways, the Islamic staffer chose not to go because there would be food, and this month required fasting. Well, the two workers were very critical of this, saying that not going to the party was "stupid". In addition, one of the guys said something about him "having the wrong religion anyways."

Can you believe that? How can one person be so close minded about another person's beliefs? Its this kind of self-righteous, everything-I-do-and-think-is-correct mindset that makes me dislike Indiana more and more. At least they didn't mention their plans to forceably convert this worker in the middle of the party. (I really would've gone off then.)

Don't get me wrong: I'm Catholic. Catholics have been notorious for forcing their will upon other religions. (And there was that Inquisition thing too...) But that doesn't make it right. Who is to say who has the right and wrong perception of religion?

Here's how I see it: We're all different people. We all come from different backgrounds, different experiences, and different perspectives. Why can't we all have different perspectives on God? Where someone might see multiple deities, maybe I see different characteristics of God. (Like, instead of Ares, the God of War, I see it as God's Old Testament Vengeful streak.) Is is possible that we're all viewing the same thing, but perceiving it through our own respective filters?

While I haven't loved my past jobs, I have learned a lot from them. (And many of the lessons aren't just about paper management or how to fire employees.) In printing, I learned that everything is relative to the observer. (which is a very deep lesson to learn from something that doesn't seem overtly important.) I can't count how many times a client wanted text or a photo to be printed a certain color, only to be dissapointed at the outcome. They would request that the sky be Blue. Well, the printer's operator would adjust the machine to make it blue to their (the operator's) standards, which would NOT be the blue the client had in mind. The blue the client had in mind would be more of a lighter shade of blue. Apparently, not everyone perceives "blue" as the same color.

Now, as simplistic as colors are, could it be far fetched to say that intrepreting something as complex as a higher omnipotent being could lead to varying opinions and outlooks?

I'm not saying that any one religion is correct. Sure, I'd be biased to say that the Catholic view is correct and the only way to go. That's my religion of choice. That's what I think closest represents my views of God, or Allah, Shiva or Science, or whatever you believe in. Does that mean Catholocism is the end-all answer to what God is? No. Its an IDEA of what God is. (I recommend watching Dogma, you'll get it.) Now, that doesn't mean I think that other religions are wrong. Different cultures with different experiences will view things in different ways, and I accept that. But, I accept that because I know that I don't completely know what God is.
Here's what I know so far. There's something responsible for why we are here. There's something that causes things to happen. Its bigger than me. Its bigger than all of us. Its so big, that no one can completely comprehend it. I call it God, because as a human, I tend to simplify things to help digest the vast amounts of things that "God" has created and controls. That's how I see the overarching power. And its wrong, but its probably partially right too. I might never know which parts of my philospohy are correct, but does it really matter? Will I die, get to Heaven, and get a cookie because I was correct in believing that God made the earth in only 7 days?

Of course, the afterlife is a completely different subject. Maybe we can just agree on one thing: In life, don't be an ass to other people. Being nice is the way to be. But, don't let others take advantage of you, or hurt the people you care about. Nowhere does it say that the person that is more correct is holier than the one who was wrong.

Does it say anywhere in the Bible that the person who was right will get into Heaven? Sure, it says to believe in God, but it doesn't explicitly say WHAT to believe about God. I believe he's more powerful than me, because I can't create all of being.

And on the topic of the Holy Books: Since the Higher Being can't be completely and directly observed, doesn't it make sense that the true messages of these books can't be directly viewed too? Look at the Bible: Its intrepretive. People: Please don't take everything it says literally. There are lessons behind things like parables, which are the true morals of the stories. Sure, everyone can spout off the moral of "The Little Engine that Could", but they have trouble doing the same with books in the Bible. Try it out! There's some good stuff hidden in that old book. Try it with your respective Holy Books: I bet you find a lot more than you bargined for.
So, imposing your religious views is foolish. Imagine if we fought a war with China to make them see Blue in the same shade that we do. Do people really need to argue, suffer, and (most tragically) die over something that we can't prove? Or something that even if we could prove it, that we couldn't comprehend?

Assumptions about religion are dangerous. The most dangerous assumption is that you are 100% correct.

Those are my opinions. They're neither right, nor wrong. They're probably a bit of both.