Intolerance comes in many forms and under many guises. Prejudice and discrimination also rear their heads in many ways. I was surprised to experience it for myself on the basis of being a Christian woman living in a small city in Northern Ontario, Canada.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised to be on the receiving end of discrimination, prejudice and intolerance and dumped as a friend given the recent bout of attacks on the Catholic Church. It seems as though Christians are being targeted in many nations around the world and in some, being killed because of their belief in Jesus Christ.
The absolute lack of respect and vitriol spouted by someone I once considered a friend caught me completely unawares. I knew that he had no liking for anything remotely resembling religion but was unaware as to how deep his intolerance, prejudice and discrimination against anyone or anything Christian ran.
It is entirely possible that he wasn’t aware that in his attempt to promote peace, love and inclusion of all he betrayed the most basic of all human rights – the right to believe and practice your faith and even more basic than that, the right to be who you are. He spouted nonsense in his assertion that all Christians were incapable of having intelligent conversation and that all Christians needed a doctor – presumably a psychiatrist – from the way his ranting was expiated.
Granted there are fanatics among all religions and even among atheists, and it is this fanaticism that has created inherent problems across the world and is responsible for much of the wars, violence and killings occurring in this world. However, to generalize 2.1 billion Christians across the world as delusional and insane because they don’t believe as he – one person – does, goes beyond the pale and he crosses that line into fanaticism himself and through his vitriol spreads hatred and sows the seeds of prejudice and discrimination for others amongst his friends and their friends and their friends and so it goes.
In my former friend’s attempt to ridicule, jeer and hiss contemptuously at Christianity because it doesn’t fit with his Lennon-ish style of dogma actually betrays what John Lennon tried to convey to a generation of people – sow the seeds of Love, not hatred.
I am proud to call myself a Roman Catholic Christian Woman and willingly attest to the fact that I am a follower of Jesus Christ and his teachings and if I lose friends because of my being a Christian woman, then I can truly say that they were not a friend to begin with.
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