I was raised as a Christian and I didn't start to question it until High School. Once in High School, people would question my belief, mock it and try and show me that theirs was better. At first I fought them, I stood strong that I was right and they weren't. However, now that I am away from all those influences and no one cares what I believe, I have become interested in other beliefs.
When I was in high school I really butted heads with a Wiccan. I had once said that I thought witch craft was wrong and she took it as a personal insult. At that point I was still strong in my beliefs but I didn't care to convert people to mine. If she questioned me I would answer. For a long time after that I didn't want anything to do with Wicca because of my experience with this person. Now I see that we were both just young and trying to do what we thought our belief required.
Now that I am away I have really gotten into neo-paganism. If that friend could see me now and discuss our beliefs it would be so different then when we were in high school.
I think it should not matter what a person believes, it should not effect a friendship and I wish that all those fanatics would back off. Unless their beliefs are actually harming you or someone it is none of your business. If everyone sticks to their own beliefs there would be a lot less problems in this world.
Oh, life is bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
--REM
I find what affects someone most, is not an argument, or a sermon, but the interaction they have with people. Who we are is defined by our choices and our choices are influenced by the people we care about, we don't do things that would bother them, push them away. To start off by saying you think everything they believe is wrong means you're not going to get far. And some battles, they're just not worth fighting. Using a Christian example, people freak out over same sex marrige. I remember when we had the chance to vote on it they were handing me petitions and they were carrying signs. Do they do this for alcoholics? Or gluttons? And even if you disagree with it, everyone has the right to make the choice. This being said though, we've decided that there's lots of choices that people can't just make. There's alot of people out there who believe that the Jews should be wiped off the face of the planet, should we not intervine? Tell them they are wrong? There are battles to fight, and some to let lie. I think what you're refrencing and it's 100% accurate, is the battles people seem to pick in high school, indeed in North American society aren't worth it.
ReplyDeleteI know now that I was wrong to say that about witch craft. I was young and naive and had been raised that way. It was also a reaction to what she was saying about my beliefs. We let what we believed completely define us and it split us.
ReplyDeleteI do think that people should intervene if someone's beliefs are hurting someone and I did say this in my above post. Overall, religion/beliefs shouldn't affect relationships or how people are viewed.