Ever since I added religion to my news feed I've been tempted to return to blogging my thoughts on stories more frequently. For a long time the majority of what I've posted has been Sunday sermons and occasional reflections--just mostly innocuous stuff with an interest limited perhaps to the parish. Seems that back during the presidential election year not all my opinions on the news were appreciated by everyone, and I was busy with other things, so I backed away from commenting on news--with the intention of it being temporary. With that being said, I'll go ahead and take the big risk of not keeping my thoughts and opinions to myself.
I noticed recently that a friend remarked how the "Angry Bearded Catholic Bloggers Club" (ABCBC) were "going nuts" with Anne Rice's rejection of the faith that she returned to after having rejected it once upon a time long ago (I have to admit: I'm not a member of the ABCBC). I hope the title of my post today isn't too much, but I feel like it encapsulates what I've been seeing in the religion news.
Whatever the news brings us, or what others might comment in its regard, the response from people of faith shouldn't be driven by intolerance or fear. These are actually the antitheses, among innumerable others, of true faith. If we are secure in what we believe, we don't have anything to be afraid of. On the contrary, we ought to be willing to let others be who they are in their belief, and in their choice of how they practice it, or even the total lack thereof.
Having true faith, in my opinion, means striving toward what is positive and best in life, and it also means rolling up our sleeves and working to change what is negative or broken. True faith means taking a risk and reaching out to other people. For me, this doesn't include my having to get you to believe the same thing that I believe in terms of religion, and it certainly doesn't mean losing touch with sanity in order to recognize that life on earth is sacred.
Unfortunately, all too often people's experience of religion is that of something broken. Often they struggle within themselves and they feel that the bad relationship they have must be ended. It's like coming away from bad love relationship or a marriage that didn't work. You can give up on the relationship without giving up on love, and this is really where I think Anne Rice may be coming from. Her experience of religion is one that is broken. However, she still recognizes the validity of what was at the basis of it to start.
Where I want to end this, without it becoming too long, is by saying that Christians have an obligation to enter each others' struggles in a positive way. We have an obligation to apply the healing balm of friendship and acceptance, and always we have an obligation to meet people just where they are in life without any expectations of making them be like us in any way. In other words we have the duty to reach out with tolerance, to fix what is broken, to cast out fear, and to make the world a truly positive place by struggling to overcome its greatest challenges.
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