Over the last few weeks, equality has taken off into a
sprint. Amongst the gays being blamed
for Ebola, paper cuts, the common cold, and the decline of straight marriage, (I
made up the middle two) many people, who may have previously held other
opinions, have started to see the value of equality along with the
illogical-ness of inequality. They’ve evolved,
to use a common phrase. This is beautiful to me. In this sense, evolving means
that you have invested time in thinking through aspects of a certain topic and have
come to a conclusion different from the one previously held because of new
information or insight. This is the exact mindset that I believe will lead us
to a more peaceful society. And although the voices of the naysayers are often
blaring, their numbers are minuscule and shrinking.
I have evolved, gratefully so. Many of my family members and
friends have evolved as well. This makes me happy. We all grew up being fed the
same [mis]information, but most of us have succeeded in thinking through things
life with logical, compassion, and honesty. These are three key ingredients, I
believe. The nature of my journey was one that led me out of religion before I
was ever able to acknowledge that I was gay, (these two journeys were related,
but not dependent upon one another) but many others have clung to their faith
while coming out; at times, it has been their greatest comfort, but yet, sadly, their condemner.
I hold a sincere compassion for these who have stayed within their faiths, their
resilience is commendable. Thankfully, many, many people of faiths are evolving. A great deal of this evolution
has been spurred on from the realization that someone they love is, in fact,
gay. This has been the big bang in
many evolutions including mine.
It is much easier to condemn what you do not first love. It must
be easy to say, I will raise my child “right”
and they will not “become” gay, but it is a completely different journey to
shed tears over that child you love, as you watch them being
torn apart inside by self-condemnation, as they try to rid themselves of this
supposed evil to no avail. It saddens me to see family members choose
their man-interpreted beliefs over that precious son, daughter, brother, or
sister, but it happens. What a shame.
Today, specifically within the Christian faith, there are
voices rising up to guide the way towards logic, compassion, and honesty
concerning the issue of homosexuality. (Although I am speaking specifically on
this issue, this process of evolution can be used for most of today’s dividing
topics.) I will link to them below because I see this as extremely important. It
is time to put this issue to rest. Having lived most of my life as a devoted
follower of Christ, ministers’ kid and, later, minister, I am all too familiar
with the teachings that are there, but I am also familiar with the harm many of
these teachings are still doing. Far too many Christians, straight or gay, out or closeted, live
their lives in the grips of self-condemnation. As I mentioned earlier it is time
to evolve towards peace. Peace is achieved not through religion, but through
allowing each other the freedom to search out this peace through their own journey.
The my-religion-is-the-absolute-truth mentality
can be seen in the backdrop of many of today’s un-peaceful situations
throughout our world.
The day I looked inward and realized the restlessness within
my own soul, was a day that filled me with compassion for others. Seeing my
judgmental heart towards others’ journey (disguised with religious jargon)
broke part of the hold that religion had held upon me. This journey inward
frightened me at first, but yet led me to a depth of happiness I had not known.
I want peace for myself and for you as an individual. I want peace for our nations
and peoples in turmoil and for this earth itself. It is time we stop dictating others’ journey
towards peace and start living our own path of peace. Only then, do I believe
we will find the collective peace we all seek.
Give these some thought:
Peace to you.
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