Why is there so much hate when it to spirituality and religion? There will always be people who don’t believe what you believe, but that definitely doesn’t mean they aren’t good people! Some of my best friends don’t believe in God, but that doesn’t hurt our friendships at all. I’m an Episcopalian Christian, and my two best friends are both agnostic. Does that mean I call them horrible names and whatnot? Not even close! It means that we are open-minded to other beliefs. We don’t necessarily have to like them; we just have to accept that they believe differently than us.
I understand that there are people who cling to their religion/faith/beliefs because they completely trust it. I understand that there are people who will always question the things we believe in. But we all need to try to be more open-minded towards people of different religions/faiths/beliefs. Terrible things happened in the past because people were not accepting of other beliefs, i.e. The Crusades of the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries.
Many people are still persecuted for their beliefs, but that wouldn’t be happening if we were all just more accepting. Even though there are the extreme believers, there are so many more that are more tolerant! It’s very frustrating when people group the tolerant people with the few extremists. We’re not all like that; I have to keep stressing that point. I was raised to go to church every Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Easter, and Christmas, during Lent, during Advent, Palm Sunday, everything, like most Christians. I’ve definitely known my share of extreme believers, and I am nothing like them, and my friends know that. They understand that there are things I believe that they don’t and they’re totally ok with that. As a general rule, we don’t talk about religion publicly because I don’t want myself or them yelled at and whatnot.
So let’s all just be more accepting and stop spreading the hate! If there’s one thing all people can agree on, it’s that this world needs less hate and more love.