Do you feel that respecting anothers rights to their beliefs is incompatible with holding and following your own? I have many friends of varrying beliefs and I feel that I have learned much from all of them.I feel that respecting and learning from them in no way compromises my faith. Indeed it strengthens them!
2006-09-27 06:18:24 · 24 answers · asked by Debra M. Wishing Peace To All 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Now see I don't expect my friends to leave their faiths or beliefs 'at the door' and neither do they expect me to.
2006-09-27 06:24:27 · update #1
We Buddhist believe that the first thing to united this world is thru religion...respect and except other religion is a way of cultivate oneself to be able to accept other people wrong doings and to be feel happy when someone doing good deeds.
2006-09-27 06:30:17 · answer #1 · answered by myhorsalwayswins 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I have several friends and lots in a mixture of Atheists, Agnostics, Christians, Buddhists and such. We get along great cause we don't try to push our beliefs upon each other or anyone else.
Do I personally feel that we can all be friends? No I don't cause time and time again I have saw on here so many Christians ask on here what can be done to make us all get along and respect each other. Yet NOTHING happens. I find it that "most" of the Christians on here are set in their ways and want to convert everyone. When they realize it is not working they get rude and continue to push their religion on others and telling them they are evil and going to burn in hell and blah blah blah.
Some people just can't seem to gasp the fact that it's a two way street. They are not going to get it their way and that be that. I am going to stand up for my right to NOT have people push their religion on me and make sorry attempts to offend me and several others. Until people learn the meaning of the word respect and start showing it. Plus open their eyes to realize it is a 2 way street. Until then I don't think we "all" can be friends.
2006-09-27 13:27:16 · answer #2 · answered by larrys_babygurl_4life 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
YES. People need to live their religion.
I understand that there is a criminal element in everything, but usually a very small percentage. Most people want to live in peace. We only have one life and that life should be as fullfilling as possible. By that I mean, people should do their best to insure that no person is oppressed or abused.
We need to pay more attention to what we are doing to practice our own religion than to how we can cram our beliefs, (which none of us are perfect at following), down the throats of others.
It would be a wonderful world to live in if everyone would respect each other as a human being.
It's like the song, "Let There Be Peace on Earth, and Let it Begin With ME."
2006-09-27 13:41:05 · answer #3 · answered by Ann 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
My mother is a Baptist, my father was a Jew from "the old country". They loved each other, and were best friends. I never heard one argument regarding each other's beliefs. They were married for 40 years until he died. Neither needed to compromise their beliefs for the other. They both learned so much from the other. It's simply called respect. So my answer is yes, absolutely.
2006-09-27 14:22:39 · answer #4 · answered by Violent Storm 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think you can be friends with anyone as long as there is a mutual respect for each other. Religion should not matter unless being friends with said person compromises your faith and beliefs, so yes everyone can be friends!
2006-09-27 13:22:58 · answer #5 · answered by ~Mrs. D~ 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Of course they can be friends, and it is doesn't lessen their commitment to their own faith. The truly wise know that things like faith and truth and wisdom transcend the boundaries of religion and language. Those who let their religion separate them from their fellow human beings is missing the whole point.
Example: I worked for a Jewish organization for two years before they suddenly laid me off; the head guy had never made any effort to be nice to me and didn't seem to regret my leaving at all. A coworker was an Orthodox rabbi. I'm not Jewish, and I'm certainly not Orthodox in anything, but am respectful of everyone else's choices, and they all knew it. The Orthodox rabbi referred to me to another company and praised me so warmly to them that I had secured a new job before I even left the old one! I may think his practices are outdated and not suited for everyone; but he embodies the true spirit of what any religion should be.
2006-09-27 13:32:03 · answer #6 · answered by teresathegreat 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I have friends of various faiths, and we often discuss religion and philosophy. Before we start, though, we set up "no-man's land;" i.e. places we agree to not go with the conversation, so we can avoid it getting too heated. (A friend of mine who's a Christian preacer, for example, refuses to discuss creation/evolution with me because we both end up just getting mad at each other.)
2006-09-27 13:24:07 · answer #7 · answered by N 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Someday, yes. I have friends of varying faiths and we get along with each other and can even talk about religion without fighting.
2006-09-27 13:25:20 · answer #8 · answered by sister steph 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I not only feel we can be, I know so. I have friends who are atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, Jewish, et al. I am a Christian. Being Christian does not preclude my having friends of other faiths.
As for respecting another's right to their beliefs...I do that, indeed. God respects people's choices. He honors their choices by permitting them to endure the full scope of consequences for their choices. For example, God allows me to endure the consequences for how and when I fail, for example. His love for me is just--and he honors my choices by allowing my life to be brought to account.
God will allow people who do not accept his gift of salvation the full scope of consequences for that choice.
That said, my non-Christian friends' beliefs are "incompatible" with God. Refusing to accept God's free gift of salvation--a choice--is to live outside of God's grace. However, there is hope that if people are actively seeking God, the Truth may yet be revealed to them. This is God's work, and he reveals himself when and how he sees fit, according to his good purposes. I share my faith with others who are interested, and I hope in the Lord.
Others' lack of faith in Jesus does strengthen my own faith in that the evidence of my life is that I do not struggle, I do not worry, I do not live in self-hope, I do not have vain wishes or ambitions, I have no side agendas apart from seeking God's will. When I see others faltering, angling, in fear, anxious, depressed, self-seeking, embittered...these things indeed strengthen my faith.
I respect people who are non-Christians, I respect the fact that they have chosen...but I do not seek guidance from them in spiritual matters. They cannot guide me anywhere but away from Truth. I may seek their guidance with regard to computer technology, e.g., but not when it comes to dealing with matters regarding the human soul.
2006-09-27 13:29:01 · answer #9 · answered by Gestalt 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Of course, they can be friends. I don't wear an "I'm an atheist" t-shirt. I am just a normal person who doesn't have anything to do with religion, except in here.
2006-09-27 13:33:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋