2014 Compassion & Tolerance

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” ― Matthew 25:40

Sad to say but the recent Hobby Lobby decision once again sheds light on some elements that are clearly misguided in this country. I expressed my displeasure with the decision and was told that I was obviously in favor or abortion and obviously not a Christian.  Not surprising, the individual judging me is a Caucasian male who claims to be Catholic.

I am not a Saint: I try live my life doing the best that I can for my family and to help others as much as possible. I consider myself Catholic but do not limit myself to only Catholic thoughts or Christian for that matter.  I know the history of the Catholic church and accept it just the same with the good and the bad. My understanding of the worst (the Inquisition period) makes me worry when religious zealots of any religion start forcing the views on the general populace.  I hope my children learn and appreciate the meaning of tolerance.

Tolerance is the flip-side of judgement.  I recall reading somewhere that Jesus said for us not to judge others unless we were free of sin.  Jesus even went so far as to request God forgive those responsible for killing him because they did not know what they were doing. Maybe because I am not a Saint, I prefer not to pass judgement on others and do not consider judgmental people to be very Christian.

Old and New Testament: Once again, I do not consider myself an expert on Christianity but I always thought that the focus was the New Testament.  Yet, I keep hearing Christian zealots referencing Old Testament passages to justify their hatred of this group or that group. Guess I misunderstood the New Testament reference to loving your neighbor as yourself. Jesus also mentioned something about a rich man having as much chance of getting into Heaven as a camel making it through the eye of a needle. So, religious leaders that focus on personal wealth concern me.

As for the Old Testament, I remember reading that God gave us freedom of choice so I always find it funny when men (especially so-called religious leaders) try to take that freedom of choice away.  Then there is story of Job that everyone seems to forget about when they assume that poor people must have done something wrong to deserve being destitute.  According to the Book of Job, we cannot not make such assumptions. Rich people can likewise not be assumed to be good.

Spiritual and Physical: I am saddened that some would insist that religious authorities should decide what is and is not scientifically true.  The Catholic Church has this type of zealous belief shamefully etched in its history, a period of time now referred to as the Inquisition.  Those that insist on forcing their religious views into the classrooms and denying scientific realities such as climate change and immunizations are just modern-day versions of the old Inquisition.

As the Dalai Lama XIV said, “If scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims.” The same should apply to Christianity.