Tired of Hate

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I was reading over at Jayleigh’s blog when I saw a post about a Creation museum opening up somewhere and the flak it is getting from educators and politicians and, of course, bloggers. She didn’t name the post, but I found it on the WordPress.com front page. When I saw the title “The Moron Magnet,” I knew it had to be that. Sure enough, it was: a harsh, unforgiving, and generally insulting post.  I’m all for free speech. If Mr. Hart or anyone else wants to openly demeanor Christianity, they are and rightly should be free to do so. So why is it that, while people who verbally assault Christians get “Atta-boys!” and Christians who defend the faith even in whispers are silenced? I’m also all for freedom of religion and tolerance. While I wish that there was a country united under God and rooted in and living in the Christian faith, I believe that the founders of America wanted freedom for all religions. All. I would disagree with the leaders of the U.S. turning it into a secular state (like Turkey) where no expression of religion is allowed. I think that America is such that people of all faiths have been welcomed to worship there and I would like it to stay that way. Even if those religions are not true, freedom of religion is an undeniable human right; people have the freedom to worship whomever and however they want (as long it doesn’t deny anyone else their freedom or life).

That said, I am so confused by the attitudes of modern Americans. Why is it that Muslims and Buddhists and many, many other religions are welcomed and accepted, but the minute anyone refers to the God of the Bible, be it Old or New Testament, sparks fly and nasty words are exchanged. And if anyone mentions Jesus, and really means Jesus as Lord and not as an obscene word, the sky falls on their head. America claims to be so tolerant of all religions, but there’s just something that it has against Christianity. I don’t understand it. People can complain that Christians and Christianity are trying to indoctrinate everyone with all these false, outdated, even harmful ideas, and they’re cheered on. If you call other religions false or harmful, though, you’re deemed a prejudiced, backwards, narrow-minded fool. What happened to freedom of religion? What happened to being able to believe whatever you wanted? If the government doesn’t want to glorify any one religion, well, perhaps it should treat them all equally. On that same note, it should not discriminate against any religion. I certainly don’t want the government to discriminate against all religions, which is the only other way to be fair besides supporting them all. Or, perhaps, the government should stay out of religion all together; taking a neutral stance and not advocating or suppressing any (unless, like I said, it was something that denied people their basic human rights). Is anyone still unclear on where I stand on freedom of religion?

I was going to address where I stood on Creationism and Evolution in this post, but I decided not to go into it all that much. Here’s what you need to know: I believe in the Bible. I believe that the Bible is God’s holy, inerrant Word. I believe that God created the universe (and everything else) just as it says He did. I think that covers it! Before you denounce me as a blind, ignorant person, just let me make sure you know that I have a high respect for science. I believe in the “Laws” that govern the universe. I believe they exist. I believe in provable facts. Is that not what true science is? I reserve the right to disregard any unproven fact and am not required to accept anything unproven as definitely true, right? So, until you show me evidence that Darwin’s theory is correct and prove it to me, I don’t have to believe it. If you can prove to a person that gravity exists and they still go jump off a cliff hoping to hover, you can rightly proclaim them ignorant and stupid. But until there is proof… it’s just a case of what seems to be the most correct. And that changes all the time. Do you see what I am getting at? I am not going to put an unproven theory over my faith. True, I can’t prove that God exists, but I don’t have to. That’s what faith is for. (Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.) Besides, I’m not forcing you to believe that God exists. I’m not calling you stupid if you don’t. I might think you’re wrong, but I’m not saying that you can’t call me wrong. I am sure of what and Whom I believe in. I know you are too, so I guess I can’t blame you if you believe differently. Even still, I don’t think it’s right that people talk as if something is fact and dehumanize other people for believing in something that, at the moment, is not proved or unproved. Plus, faith and truth trump science anytime, in my book. If they can work together, all the better. Faith does not mean throwing my brain out the window– it means being sure of what I believe in. Until you can prove that what I believe is wrong, don’t act like there is something fundamentally wrong with me, please.

I’m probably going to get some unwanted traffic from linking to that post and someone could probably cut and paste enough of what I’ve written to make me look like an absolute loony but, honestly, I can’t read something like that and be silent. This isn’t about me making a statement; someone else could and probably has said what needs to be said and in a much better fashion. This isn’t about winning respect for Christians; certainly one post is not going to secure that (and since when do we need respect?). I do feel, however, that Christians just aren’t bold enough. Bold is not brash and obnoxious, it’s simply saying what needs to be said when it needs to be said. I’m just so tired of hate, on both sides of the spectrum. Come on, Christians– let’s start acting like Christians should! I hope that’s all I’ve done.

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