Regarding religion, I consider myself a “whateverist.” Believe whatever you want; just don’t attack
me for my beliefs and don’t feel I am attacking you if we disagree. But recently, I have been hearing from Christian
friends and reading articles by Christian authors that perhaps the Virgin Birth
is a biological impossibility or that the Star of Bethlehem would have been in
the sky anyway. They say that these
things aren’t the point of Christmas.
I was surprised, to say the least, at my reaction: “I’m a religious liberal, but . . .” The but is that while I may feel they are
right, I don’t want to. When I have doubts,
belief in the truth of the Christmas story gives me something to hold on
to. I feel as if I am being personally
attacked by people I like and people I don’t even know. I want to say, “Do you know what you’re doing
to me? Not only are you upsetting me,
but you’re putting my faith in jeopardy!
And I’m sure I’m not the only one.
So please keep your opinions to yourself, even if they’re right.”
Finding that I feel this way has not been pleasant (OK, it
sucks.), but as Cartman and the boys on South
Park say, “I’ve learned a lesson
today.” I understand how creationists
(or people who don’t want the altar where I think it should be) can feel when
evolutionists or whateverists disagree with them. And I can’t expect even good friends not to
feel that I’m trying to take something – something very important – away from
them.
Being a believer is hard.
It takes work. We need to support
each other as much as we can, even if we don’t agree about what really amounts
to details.
So even if I can’t always keep my opinions to myself, I will
work to be more sympathetic. We’re all
trying to do the best we can.
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