Derailed

Oh people. I had a different topic in mind, but someone has just made me very cranky.

Let's talk about faith. I am a Christian. In fact, I teach Sunday school. I am not anything like an expert, nor have I ever, EVER claimed to be.

I am not trying to convert anyone, or force my beliefs on them. I am just trying to live my life the best I can and set the best example as I can.

AND YET!

There are those amongst us who seem to be absolutely compelled to challenge and insult my faith. I am happy to talk about my faith and beliefs and explain my understanding as best I can. But there is a difference between asking me a question about my faith and questioning my faith. I have friends who would never say that they consider me stupid, but will say to my face that they think people who are religious are stupid. Well. Then how does that not mean that you think I'm stupid, folks?

Another issue is that they seem to show a lot more respect for other religions, and I KNOW that if I behaved towards other faiths the way they behave towards mine, these same people would jump all over me! What is that? It's not that I would ever deliberately treat anyone the way I get talked to, but it still seems like total bull malarky hypocrisy. Why is my faith somehow more deserving of this? No faith is deserving of this. It's total nonsense, people. Everyone's faith should be respected. Even mine. And even people who don't have one. If you are an atheist, I might disagree with you, but I don't think you're stupid. I don't get that. And frankly, this so totally goes beyond the issue of faith.

I have the good fortune to be friends with some very smart people, and they tend to get caught up in the idea that because they are SO smart that their ideas are the ones that are right and therefore, they are totally justified in challenging everyone else. And even if they have good intentions, they have a tendency to come across as ....belligerent, shall we say? And for the person put on the defense, this is so beyond a no win situation, because it's not about convincing them to your side, it's not even about them trying to sway you to their side, it's basically just about you being forced to defend yourself.

Anyway, respect each other and even if you don't agree, be respectful of other people's beliefs. And maybe then I won't be so cranky!