Trisha wrote:
>>quite frankly even a whole contingency of Christians don't have a
problem with it!!.<<
Glad you clarified this, Trisha, lol.
I'm just going to add my $.02:
As someone who was raised in a Christian church ( Anglican) and attended
Catholic schools and professes to believe in God and the basic tenets of
the Bible ( ie "Love thy neighbour."), I am highly offended by ANYONE
who tries to tell me what to believe. I am not threatened by anyone else's
beliefs and in fact am fascinated by the different perspectives and the
tremendous similarities among religious beliefs. I detest that religion (not just
Christianity) has been and is being used as a justification for intolerance,
oppression, narrow-mindedness and bigotry.
My most cherished spiritual belief is that we are all the same in God's eyes.
I don't believe that means we all have to think and believe the same
things, however. I don't even believe that we all have to believe that God
is the same for everyone. What "God" means to an individual could be the
Universe, Nature, Mother Earth. It can be Yahweh or Allah. It can be
Peace, Love, Wisdom. We have the ability as human beings to think and
to make choices. And it is our obligation to seek knowledge to make the
wisest choices possible FOR OURSELVES. I have been to many Christian
churches, to synagogue, to a Pagan ritual, to several Aboriginal
ceremonies. I am currently reading about the Bahai faith. Personally I have
not found the tenets of any one faith that fully capture the range of my
spiritual values and beliefs. So I stay a Christian, for now...it's what I know.
But I keep looking. :)
>>Now, it seems to me there is more fighting over religion at Christmas than
other time. It seems to crop up on every list. For the season that is
suppose to personify Peace and Love isn't this strange.<<
I LOVE Christmas. I love the IDEALS of Christmas: "Peace on Earth, good
will to all people" . I love the music. I think it's easy for Christians to get
caught up in the spirit of things and forget that others don't celebrate this
holiday. (It's also too easy to get caught up in the hype and
commercialism...) So they just want EVERYONE to join in the fun (or
stress/ hassle, as the case may be, lol). It's no different than Thanksgiving
last week. Americans get so caught up in this holiday that I think few
remember that other countries don't celebrate this or they do so at a
different time of year. In Canada we celebrate in October. A fellow on
another list from Australia commented that he didn't understand what it was
all about - they don't do Thanksgiving.
I think open-mindedness and respect for others' right to make choices for
themselves would go a long way to curing the ills of this world.
This was long and rambling... and nothing to do with CP. FWIW...
Yvonne
Mommy to 2 year-old triplets: Robert (NDA), Anthony (PVL, CP),
and Our Angel, Joseph {April 14/97-Dec. 31/98}.
Ottawa, Canada
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