Yep, A Religion Post

It's long, but I hope you take the time to read it.

I'm the kind of person who dwells on things. I don't mean like regrets. I don't regret anything I do, because it's already been done and there's no going back. I don't mean like grudges either. I'm generally quick to forgive, I remember but I forgive. Yesterday, in church, my Sunday school teacher asked me what I pondered and thought about deeply. It was on the spot and I could only answer with words "life" and "my beliefs". Which is true. I think about what is going on in life, how I can fix things, worry about people, think about what will happen next. And I often look over what I believe to see if everything still holds true and if I'm living up to everything I believe in. And this long introduction leads me to my point.

I know none of you can forget about the controversial post on religion we had months ago. After it was over I didn't give much thought to it, just relived to see it end. Then, when Catherine posted in September, it was brought back into my mind when she said, "Jonathan told me to avoid the topic of religion..." And I've thought about it since then. It seems ridiculous, but like I said, I dwell on things. And I've waited for time to pass, because I've wanted to say something about that post, but not too soon.

The post would obviously bother me because I am a Christian, but I was OK with it. We all believe in different things, and whatever makes us happy is what we should believe in. What gave me a real unsettling feeling that lasted days afterwards, were those comments. People were against Jonathan, people supported Jonathan, and argument after argument was presented. I felt it was stupid and uncalled for. I was annoyed with the fact that we were supposed to be friends and yet here we were defending our position as if we were fighting the worst of enemies. People were mean too, and that was the least called for thing ever. And all those "anonymous" comments from people who wanted to get involved but didn't want people to know, that was ridiculous also. It made it worse because people we didn't even know were throwing out mean and harsh comments.

And my point in saying this is that there shouldn't be an avoidance in religion or any topic really (I'm sure that politics would bring up another controversy) . I would like think that we have enough respect for each other to listen to others beliefs and try to understand them. To my friends that believe in God, it hurts when people dismiss what you believe in as a joke, I know, but you know it's going to happen and there's no point in fighting. You can only correct when people say a false stereotype of you or your beliefs and move on. To my atheist friends, sometimes it'll feel like we're throwing our religion in your face. It's not our intentions. We find happiness in them, and we just want to share it with our friends. If it's ever too much, just say something and I'm sure we'd be happy to pull back.

I think we're all just trying to live our lives to the best of our ability. We have to understand that others are too. Don't forget that, guys. Understanding is what being a friend is all about.

-Brianna

PS I LOVE talking about religion, if you couldn't guess. So if you're every up for a discussion, not a debate, a discussion, I'm totally game.