I am writing this blog post just to rant and vent off and share with you one incident that happened with me.
The other day, while visiting Vancouver, BC, I was stopped by a family to take a photo. They observed my accent and they asked me where I am from. When I mentioned Lebanon, they wanted to know if I am a Christian or a Muslim. When I said Christian, they felt really happier and more friendly!
If you live in the West, some (if not many) people are Islamophobe. They ask you if you are a Christian or a Muslim so they feel a bit of relief if you have a more “positive” and “peaceful” religion.
I just hate the fact that I have to declare my religion so that others around me feel better. Even if they don’t ask directly, I feel this covert need to disclose my religion. Too bad, what a state of affairs. Having said that, I was born to a Christian family.
Today, based on the current world events, more and more people are brainwashed by the mainstream media to hate the religion of Islam. Where is the real freedom of expression?
When it comes to me, I treat others not based on their religion, but on how they act towards others. I try not to generalize because each person is different.: there are bad Christians as there are good Muslims and vice versa.
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I am without religion. Having been raised in an athiest (not anti-theist) home, religion never played much of an influential role in my life. That you were (if only subconsciously) treated better for your Christian beliefs is completely absurd in my opinion. The interesting thing is that Islam and Christianity (and Judaism) have common roots in the Abrahamic tradition, and while theology and tradition varies greatly among them all, it is still the belief in supposedly the same God.
I have always been taught to respect individual differences and the worlds religions, but to also value my own independent thought which should that settle on religion, so be it. For me I remained an athiest and still yet deeply spiritual. But many people are inherently judgemental whether they be religioius, secular or otherwise.
Of all the beliefs out there, it is perhaps atheism that gets the worst rap in American society, though I’m not sure of Canada. Athiests, it is said, have no morals and can’t be trusted, and yet it is after all just another belief, as one can not emperically prove or disprove the absolute existence of any God or gods. But God is alive in so much of the world that “how could someone not believe–they must be evil.” In some sense, then, God does exist, if only in the mental and social fabric of humanity.
My point being is that all we really have are beliefs which have in some way been passed down to us from the people and cultures and traditions we have encountered throughout life. Had you been born as a native in Thailand or Laos, it is almost certain that you would not be Christian (probably Buddhist or native spiritualist). Had a Muslum instead been born black in Batton Rouge, LA, she would almost certainly not be Muslum, but Southern Baptist.
In this you see we don’t really have as much choice as we’d like to believe–we are instead a product of individual thought influenced greatly by that which surrounds us–and so we should respect that these people, all people, are fully human as anyone else with only a different frame of reference in different cultural landscapes. And to know the difference between the fear mongering media and what most people actually do day in and day out (99.9% of all Muslums are wonderful and respectful people). Beneath it all, we just want the same things anyhow: health, happiness and to see our youth succeed (and when those are not attainable, often because of oppression or resource scarcity, we tend toward the base nature of humanity).
Merry Christmas
Hello Geodukkha,
Thank you for your thorough comment. I was only sharing my experience and the people I met.
>The interesting thing is that Islam and Christianity (and Judaism)
>have common roots in the Abrahamic tradition
True, I agree with you. Not many people know that unfortunately.
You would even be surprised how many people I meet that don’t even know that Christianity originates in Rome, Italy…absurd, but that was my experience.
They don’t even know that Jesus performed his first miracle in Lebanon, they don’t even know what Lebanon is except that it is a dangerous Muslim country.
>Athiests, it is said, have no morals and can’t be trusted,
True, again.
For instance, I know that you cannot join Freemasonry if you don’t believe in God, any God.
>In this you see we don’t really have as much choice as we’d like
> to believe–we are instead a product of individual thought influenced
>greatly by that which surrounds us–and so we should respect that these people,
>all people, are fully human as anyone else
This is my belief too. I expressed that in an older post entitled: My religion
http://lallouslab.net/2013/06/22/my-religion/
Thanks for participating in the discussion.