Religious Debates and Why I Don't Get Involved

I've been seeing a bunch of religious debates all over Facebook. If someone mentions the word "God", shit starts hitting the fan. I read everyone's comments and even though I don't comment, I'm stunned at how disrespectful people can be. "Disrespect" might be putting it mildly, but you get my point.

Now, before I get into it, I'm going to make one thing perfectly clear: I'm a Christian. I was raised by a Baptist mother, but my beliefs differ from hers; I don't believe everything the Bible tells me, Church and State should be separated, and homosexuals won't go to Hell for simply being attracted to the same sex. But all that aside, yes, I believe in God and Jesus is his son. Moving on.

The things people say on Facebook make me really want to shake my head at them and say "What has happened to humanity?" These are the comments:

"It makes me happy seeing so many atheists on here. The world is getting smarter."
"There is no God. Quit deluding yourselves."
"All Christians are narrow-minded idiots."
And so on and so forth.

Now, I'm not hating on these comments because the ones who typed them are atheists. In fact, I couldn't care less that they're atheists. I'm hating on them because of how unbelievably disrespectful they are. Why? Because I love diversity.

You don't believe in any deity? Fine, that's your choice. You want to go pray five times a day? You go and do that. You celebrate Hanukkah instead of Christmas? That's great. You're a Wicca? Cool. You still don't know what you believe in? That's fine, too.

Yes, I love diversity. I'm not going to judge you and shove my beliefs down your throat if yours differ from mine. It's your life. You can believe in whatever you want. Hell, you can believe in Zeus and I won't judge you.

Why do religious debates even exist? I see no point in them. Both parties will think they're right and the debate will go on and on until one of them gets too tired of explaining themselves repeatedly. I never talk about my religion on Facebook because I know someone will jump on my status and try to dissuade me, and me being me, I'll just ignore them and go on with my day. Who am I to tell you what exists and what doesn't?

Why can't we just respect each other and get on with our lives? That's all I'm trying to say here. Just respect each other. Accept that there are other beliefs than your own and move on. Religion doesn't make one stupid, just like atheism doesn't make one evil. That, right there, is the point I'm trying to make.

This is why I shouldn't stay up all night on the Internet. I get sensitive about stuff. Happy belated Valentine's Day!