(see last three posts)
Coexisting and Diversity
It is not against the law to be Muslim, an atheist, or speak a different language in this country. Immigration and diversity are why we are all here. If you believe that everyone should look, think, act, believe and vote as you do maybe you have forgotten that the family of man is over 7 billion strong and most of them are not white, middle-class or Christian. Only 33% of the world is Christian.
I do not align myself with any person, publication or organization. I cannot respect or understand the opinions of some inexplicably popular pundits who have been known to speak out viciously and disrespectfully against blacks, women, Iraq soldiers, 9/11 families, Katrina victims, people who "deserve" to lose their homes in forest fires etc. (You can look these quotes up easily on the Internet). These people fuel intolerance, fear, and a desire to move backwards to an era before civil rights in this country. How sad.
A house divided against itself will fall. Luke 11:17
The most off-putting agenda of certain groups for me is the idea that they are entitled to have everything their way. They appear to take no responsibility for less fortunate fellow citizens, to care for the environment, to tolerate other religions and cultures, to support quality education for all American children or to ever support what is good for all in this country. Just because you live in America does not entitle you to have everything suiting your personal preferences.
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it. George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950
When Jesus said, "Love thy neighbor" did he mean only those of your political party, race or sexual orientation? When he spent time with the poor did he say "take a bath and get a job"? No, he just fed them. His whole ministry was based on social justice. On his last day Jesus's greatest example was of washing others' feet. He was not belligerent, angry or insisting he was right - just humble and serving.
I do not believe in a paranoid, doomsday approach to life. This contradicts faith. I do not believe that attacking others solves anything. Any fool can spout hatred and intolerance. Hateful emails and rhetoric only serve to divide us further.
In my Bible Christian morals do not include intolerance. Jesus loved the outcast tax collector, the leper, the prostitute, the poor. If you are a Christian then you must believe that Jesus brought a new covenant of love, compassion and forgiveness, supplanting some of the Old Testament ways. We are all imperfect, all sinners, all need forgiveness. Don't hate someone just because they sin differently than you.
The highest result of education is tolerance. Helen Keller
You can safely assume that you have created God in your own image when God hates all the same people you do. Anne Lamott
And.... there is no War on Christmas. We should be thankful we have have the freedom to celebrate it. Insisting that everyone respect one holiday while disrespecting their religious freedom ( or freedom from it) is shameful. In American no one will prevent you from praying or worshiping. Is one's faith so small that someone not saying Merry Christmas will hamper the celebration? Jesus does not care whether someone says Merry Christmas, but he does care that you love your neighbor and honor Him through love and respect for all. Many of our ideas about "the way things should be" were formed in our childhoods, but we are not living in those years any longer. Let God do the judging.
And finally in the words of Betty White: I don't know how people can get so anti-something. Mind your own business, take care of your affairs and don't worry about other people so much!
Let's be FOR each other instead of AGAINST each other.
Come let us reason together - Isaiah 1:18
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