I have shared the "Red is Best" story with people via this blog and also through e-mail and other websites so it has been seen by quite a few people. After reading the story, no one was left wondering what it was an analogy for. :-) I have been thrilled with the positive responses and the dialogue it has started. It was a difficult and personal story to write so the positive feedback has been very much appreciated.
I've been thinking about the conflict that religion can cause in a family when people disagree. It shouldn't matter at all.... religion is a very personal thing and is really no one else's business. However, it has long tentacles and can instigate differences among family members. But I think a universal truth that most (hopefully all) people can agree with is.... we are all doing the best we can with the information we have.
When there is religious conflict then we obviously have different information.... we have had different experiences, have read different books, and even have different (individual) interpretations of the same books. But I believe that we are truly doing the best we can with the information we have.
I don't believe anyone is deliberately trying to hurt anyone else. No one intends to insult or offend anyone else even though offense may be taken. We are all trying to do what we believe is best with what we have.
If anyone has any comments or disagrees with this, I welcome the feedback.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I think you're very right Vicky - 95% of the time, people that appear to be very religious are just doing the best with the information they have. The hardest thing to do is to try and look at things from somebody else's point of view, while ruling out our own biases and views. Religion is a very tough thing to disagree over, because it's so personal and important to people. I think the key (in my very limited experience, keep in mind) is keeping an open mind and being accepting and tolerant of others.
A lot of wars are fought over religious disagreements. This is just family disagreements on a bigger scale. It is hard to look at the world through another persons eyes but we must learn it if we are ever going to have global peace. Respect, understanding and love goes a long way. We really are all trying to do the best we can with what we know.
Post a Comment