Side bar….I clearly didn’t stick with my goal to write more, given my last post was 8 months ago!  Clearly I didn’t have much to say.

Until today….

Should we or must we defend our beliefs to others?  Is it wrong to ask that we respect others beliefs and treat them without judgement?

Here’s an example of what I am referring to.  Say you are a devout Catholic.  What if you have a friend that is Agnostic?  Do you constantly ask them to attend mass or make statements that you wish they would attend mass and believe what you believe?  (Feel free to replace Catholic and Agnostic with any other religion, faith, belief.)

Why? Do you do this because you believe your religion and faiths are right and theirs are wrong?  What evidence do you have to allow you to make such an assumption?  Pretty sure the answer will be there is no evidence.  The key word here is BELIEF.  Beliefs are ideas, opinions, theories.  You will not find concrete evidence to prove your belief, religion, faith is better than any other.  There is nothing wrong with having faith, I encourage it, but keep in mind, they are personal to YOU.

I understand that some faiths want to “save” or “evangelize” to others.  I am not against inviting or talking to your friend about your faith and beliefs.  That’s totally valid.  Your friend may be completely open and interested and so be it.  My issue comes when once you know how your friend feels and what they believe in, and you don’t support, accept and respect it.  My issue comes when passive aggressive comments are made or statements/judgements are tossed out as if they were leaves blowing in the wind.  No consideration for how the other person feels.  If they are not interested, the topic should be dropped and not constantly pushed.

Think about what message we are sending to each other.  Have you considered how your comments make the other person feel?  Pretty sure nobody wants to feel disrespected or judged.  I, for one, do not like to feel that way, nor do I want to hurt anyone else.

I won’t go deeply into my specific beliefs.  That’s not the point.  The point is, I want to be treated with respect as a fellow citizen of the world, no matter what my beliefs are.  I am your fellow sister, you are my brothers and sisters.  I live in the same world you live in.  We are all human, breathing the same air, drinking the same water, living the same mortality.

Real friends, real family, accept each other for who and what they are.  Agree to disagree.  Do not allow the differences of opinions/beliefs to get in the way.  The foundation should always be in love. If you cannot do this, then I’d have to question the relationship or friendship.

Peace!