There Are Different Names for the Same Things

I keep bringing the idea of faith up with people who are confident, intelligent, and honest enough to discuss their beliefs. For most people, religion is a difficult thing. It's something people are combative, defensive, questioning, and certain about all at the same time. And if it isn't a difficult thing for someone, it's difficult for me to respect someone who follows something so blindly. Or to respect someone who dismisses something so carelessly.

One of the most important things it's taught me is how important it is to be a part of something bigger than yourself. To take life seriously but yourself less seriously. Or, to know the importance of what's around you without falling into the trap of overestimating your own self-importance.

It confuses me how tolerance is supposed to be so much a part of religion. Not that I don't understand why it is; we've learned from how uncivil we can act toward each other. And we have to stress the point that even though so many people believe so many different things, violence, discrimination, and intolerance have no place in a well-meaning society. With that being said, I feel as though it would infuriate me if I was an Evangelical to see someone practicing another faith. Like you were watching someone who seemed helpless. Like they were standing by a fire to cool down or trying to use an ice cube to warm themselves up. And so what they thought was a means to goodness was really just an exercise in futility. I imagine that feeling to be as frustrated as a person can feel.

A few months ago I interviewed with a non-profit for a Graphic Design position. The organization was committed to spreading religious pluralism, or the "promotion of unity, co-operation, or improved understanding between different religions." It was basically founded by a Muslim who faced a good deal of discrimination after 9/11 and wanted to spread awareness about Islam. Initially, it seemed like a great idea. There is no question that we can all learn something from each other. But it seemed that although these people were devoted to a good cause, the entire idea of a comparative religion seemed to take away from the argument that there is truth at all. It seemed to suggest to me that we all have a piece of the right answer. And of course, we should try and understand each other as best we can. Still, there are a lot of different answers out there. And not one part of me buys something as outlandish as Scientology, for instance. If you were to just take bits and pieces from everyone else to form your own belief system, you're not really following your faith, but your own personal moral code. So it becomes something else entirely.

I still face the same roadblocks with having faith that I always have. I feel like it's an issue of all or nothing. It seems that either the Bible is entirely true or completely fabricated. And there seem to be certain things in there that are undeniably the root of our morality and love. And things that seem contradictory or far-fetched. But I don't think that you can pick and choose, nor does it allow you to.

But what outweighs that is our insisting natures. We know there's purpose. We know there's in innate sense of unity between all of us, that we all belong. And at no point in my life could I ever dismiss that.