The New York Times carried an interesting article about religion and difference in today's politics: Mormon Candidate Braces for Religion as Issue. The article deals with the "the argument that [Mitt Romney's] faith [ -- Mormonism -- ] would require him to be loyal to his church before his country. And this criticism of Mitt Romney's viability as a Republican Presidential candidate is coming from -- of all camps --that of Christian conservatives!
I'm not here to support or defend Romney's candidacy, or Mormonism, but to speak to that most human of qualities, that we, as a species, love to segregate our selves.
Yes. Segregate.
The human animal, as a whole, has honed the skill of establishing differences between our selves and the "other," whatever that other may be. The differences we create are grand. There is the Judeo-Christian Old Testament separation of our selves from nature. There are racial divides. There are cultural divides. There are socio-economic divides. There are religious divides. There are religious divides within religions.
In every aspect of a society there are opportunities for people to find differences, and to play upon their differences. This Time article is just another example. We're seeing conservative Christians calling into question the ability of a person from a different sect of Christianity to separate his religious self from his political self.
Senator Oren Hatch of Utah commented in the article "there are still many people around the country who consider the Mormon faith a cult."
What we're talking about is tolerance: tolerance towards others' beliefs; tolerance that seems to dissipate when a pundit or social commentator is able to hide behind the mantle of one zealous group or another.
Having a view on an issue is important. Taking a stand is important. Being able to listen to, understand, and tolerate the view of an "other" is beyond important, and, quiet possibly, the foundation of our creating a TRULY peaceful society.
But where and how does the kernel of intolerance get seeded? Like anything, we develop our intolerance through learned behaviors: watching our parents, watching our friends, taking in the world around us. What's on our TVs and the front pages of our newspapers today? War. Intolerance. An inability to accept others. A break down of discourse.
And what do all of these things feed? Fear. Fear, which is the root of all intolerance. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the unfamiliar. Fear of the "other."
So if so many of these issues of intolerance stem from differences in faith (everything from intra-Christian to Islamic-Christian conflicts), then why don't we show some faith in our selves, show some faith in the God of Abraham (which is the same god of Judaism, Christianity, AND Islam), and why don't we show some faith that the person on the "other" side is just as anxious as we are, and wants the same things we do: health, and the pursuit of happiness.
Let's make some room for the "other."
RJ Lavallee is a freelance writer in Northern California with a background in things ranging from flipping burgers to teaching windsurfing. He makes his living as a communications consultant to Fortune 500 companies.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=RJ_Lavallee
