Religious intolerance?

Question

Why some believers of different religions, in different parts of the world, simply do not see out of the frame of their religion and judge others according to their beliefs? An example is that Catholich (mine) Church does not agree with homosexualtiy, therefore some of my friends have negative opinion about gays and lesbians, because our Book does not approve it. There's many more examples, but I will not list them here (I have already been standing in front of the wall here). Again, it is not meant against any religion, any faith, any believer! I am simply asking why should I strictly follow my Book and therefore dislike gays and lesbians, because my faith does not allow me to be one of them. I simply leave them alone and respect their different way of living, different look, different faith, whatever. Why some people set their minds in their religious framework and see no meter further?

So far so good. I like your answers. And I am not on the wall again ;). I can see for many this is simple issue. As one says, religions were created 1000s of years ago, life has changed up to no. Didn't it? For me some e.g. pacific islands' believers of no Christianity are like a bubble somewhere far away, like me in my bubble, and why should I impose my beliefs on them, and dislike them, because they do not go hand in hand with my faith? Because they worship e.g. a tree, they should be primitive? Helooo? I prefer to go there and learn from them what my faith has not given me, since no one is perfect and each faith has ups and downs, pluses and minuses, advantages and disadvantages. Wonderful day to you all.

Answer 1

I agree with most of the above. The things you say hold true for most believers ( in any religion). Their religion seems to make them intolerant. You are able to discern between what is reality and what is said in a very old book. Times change but the religions do not change with them, thus making a lot of religious people stay behind in the doctrines of their religion which were made thousands of years ago.

Answer 2

Athiests shouldn't answer religious questions as it's more or less a subject that they generally haven't an idea of what they're speaking on. They fear what they don't understand, and so mock it. I wish they'd just try and understand instead of mocking. The Bible speaks of mockers and their ilk, so I suppose athiests speaking about religious issues are to be expected.

Anyway, to the question. First of all, the Bible does not say we should hate gays or people who do things that the Bible disagrees with. God is the judge...not us. The concept is to love the sinner, but hate the sin. We should love gays just as much as anybody else...but at the same time, not be tolerant of their homosexual behavior. It's the homosexual act the God refers to in the OT as an abomination...not the people performing it. Big difference.

There is right and there is wrong...the Bible spells it out for us. But it's easy to let the world confuse us as to what is right and what is wrong.

Answer 3

Those who are intolerant are those that think they have the right answer over the others when in reality they do not.
Tolerance and condoning are not the same thing. The two cannot be confused.
A tolorent religion does not condone the massacre of people because they are not of the same religion .

Answer 4

You are an advanced soul. Now, take the next step and ask yourself what harm homosexuality does to the world. Aside from the fact that some religions condemn it and some people find it "ookie," what actual harm does it do? Musulmana says it will "weaken our societies." Do you think that's true? Is there any evidence of that? Or is it simply her believing an ancient prejudice?

Answer 5

I believe this has nothing to do with what Jesus preached or what the bible says. It has to do with the interpretation of that bible.

We as human beings are very susceptible to suggestion. When we are brought up to believe one thing we will almost never question it.

Another example of what you talk about would be the race thing. No matter the advances the black people have made in the US there will always be people, because of the way they were raised, that will not like or trust them. That is also true in reverse in the black community.

There are so many examples of people who believe as they were taught and no matter what is put before them only that frame of reference makes sense to them. The terrorist who believe they will see God because they kill their enemy and themselves. No doubt they have never ever known anyone that they seek to kill but that is not important.

When Jesus came to earth he came to save us from ourselves. He taught piece and kindness for one another and as we see in the middle east it may be time for his return. Couldn't we all learn from him again.

Answer 6

It's the conflict between religion and democracy.

Religion is supposed to give you rules for life, and people are led to believe that religious priorities and agendas are all-important and override all other considerations. Meanwhile, in a democracy, we're all supposed to respect each other's opinions, and amongst those opinions are our religious beliefs. It's difficult for some religious people to distinguish between their own personal convictions and the secular laws of our democracy, which ensure that we can all maintain our convictions so long as they don't infringe on the rights of others.

I'm gay, but trust me, I have absolutely zero interest in forcing anybody to "approve" of my "lifestyle." I couldn't possibly care less what you think. If you don't like it, for whatever reason, fine, I have plenty of friends. In the same way, I happen to be of the opinion that christianity is an imbecile religion based on notorious lies and centuries of oppression, but if others want to follow it, that's their business. But that's just the difference between me and the intolerant religious people we're talking about. Since homosexuality is supposed to be a "sin" according to their cult doctrine, they refuse to "live and let live," and actively oppose civil rights for homosexuals in our democracy. It's just as if I, non-christian that I am in my personal life, insisted that we write laws forcing everybody else to abandon religion. It's exactly contrary to the concept of a democratic society.

Answer 7

I personally think it is simply laziness. "If the book says no, then I don't like is a very easy way to live life". There is no question, no worry - something comes up, let's turn to the book to learn how to deal with it. I also think that some folks think that things they don't agree with needs to be stamped out of this existence so that others are not tempted by the evil, you know?

Either way I agree with you. I think that there is a lot of choices and in life and the choices I make are between me and my god and no body else's business really. I am delighted to meet happy, well adjusted people who are content in their life and spiritual path, whatever it may be.

Peace!

Answer 8

Hi. As a fellow Catholic, I want to be sure that you know how the Catholic Church feels about Homosexuals. In short, Catholics welcome homosexuals into their Church, however, they cannot condone the practice of Homosexuality, as it goes against God. Another example, we welcome the alcoholic, but we cannot condone the sin of his or her drinking in excess. Everyone has the propensity to sin, and we follow our religions because we want to over come our sins and be more like Christ. If we don't set our minds on religious framework, we will fall into sin faster. However, we should not condemn others for their sins, because we can all be condemned for our sins. Therefore, if your friends can't say anything nice, they shouldn't say anything at all.

Answer 9

The bottom line is that you have to ask yourself are you more concerned with your will or with God's will.

I think that if you read what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about this issue and you trusted in Jesus' divine providence in giving all of His authority to His Church, and in particular the authority given to the Pope, to teach on matters of faith and morals you wouldn't need to ask this question. Our God is not a God of confusion. That's why He gave us the Church guided by the Holy Spirit to lead us to the Truth. And the Truth is what will set us free.

Answer 10

I am not tolerant of religion, nor do I claim to be. Religion has cause more hatred in the world than any other system. Religion is truly the opiate of the masses.

Religion subverts science, encourages fanaticism and thrives on guilt. Thanks, but no thanks.

I applaud the fact that you are tolerant of homosexuals, but I wonder how you can take some parts of your religion and ignore the rest.