(This is not directly related to the topic of Islam, but I thought it merited a blog post.)
Of late, I have been communicating with an individual who follows a very strict version of Christianity. Some of the things he has to say are reasonable (i.e., don't drink or do drugs), others blatantly offensive (even thinking about self-harm or suicide will get one sent to Hell, homosexuality is a sin, etc.), and still others quite interesting. One of these was the idea that one should not associate with those who do not conform to one's own system of religious beliefs. Personally, I am quite opposed to this idea. If one refuses to investigate alternate theological viewpoints, one is far more prone to be intolerant, confused, or even violent towards people who do not follow one's belief system. Furthermore, by failing to so much as spend time with people of different or no faiths, one will undoubtedly miss out on many valuable relationships - as evidence, most of the people I know are of different faiths than their best friends.
Wow this is a really interesting post! I've known some people who are strictly tied to their religion, and I think some of what they say is a bit extreme, but I have never heard of it to the extent you are blogging about.
ReplyDeleteI spent a brief period of time when i was growing up in the Baptist religion. They are very...judgmental to the things you mention in the above post, but I don't think there were rules against making friends.
Your post kind of correlates with the blogger "Ryan's Religions". He is posting about religions that are BS.