Viewpoints

I have a bee in my bonnet at the moment about religion. Or rather, about the open warfare that seems to have started between believers and non-believers. Now, for the sake of the argument and to avoid singling out individual belief systems and getting bogged down in a quagmire of "my god is better than your god" type of blows, I'm going to split the world into two lots of people. People who believe there is more to it all than this life and this moment and this planet, and people who don't. Believers, and non-believers.

Now, by no means am I good little Christian. When asked (note the emphasis on "asked"), I will profess to following the fundamentals of Christianity: a belief in God, a God that I can relate with, who acts as my conscience and guide, a set of rules for living my life with the minimum of harm and maximum of helpfulness I can muster. No doubt there are plenty of believers who follow pretty much that formula, and I'm sure there's a shyteload of non-believers who also do pretty much the same thing, but without reference to God.

My Bible tells me to spread the word of the Lord. I'm always happy to chat and debate religion, belief systems, philosophy... what I refuse to do is insist that I am right, non-believers are wrong, and everyone should believe as I do. I just couldn't do that to another person. Who am I to tell anyone else what to think?

I'm constantly startled, however, at the number of non-believers who insist upon telling me I believe in fairytales, that my belief system is wrong. I don't understand how it is that you find my belief system so offensive that you need to attack me over it. I've never even mentioned my belief system to you, yet you have an inkling I believe and BAM: wade on in to sway me to your point of view. I wouldn't dream of doing that to you: it's your life to live as you see fit.

Christians seem to be the last minority it's ok to debase. It's not politically correct to comment on hair colour, nationality, race, Islam, gender, Buddhism... but Christians? Fair game. I find it very disturbing. So many non-believers who are happy to shout about how they don't believe, because beliving incites hatred...

Pot, meet kettle....