There are many different ways to look at freedom.
One important freedom is right to follow one faith without interference from the government. It is a freedom hard won by our founding fathers.
It also implies that respect needs to be accorded to all men no matter what their faith path is, or if they have none. When respect is lost and Christians are the ones who show it, the result is that the rest of us suffer from the backlash.
Freedom of religion is based on having respect for all and expecting it to be returned. So let us show respect for all men and women that they deserve, for we are all made in the image and likeness of God. We are not to judge, but to grow in freedom to love others, ourselves and first of all God our loving Father revealed through Jesus Christ.
What do you think about freedom of religion? When you think about freedom of religion, do you think of it only in terms of your own faith, or do you also think about the faiths of other people? How can we respect all people as they exercise their freedom of religion?
Recommend
Comments (17)
It is hypocritical for Christians to, on one hand, tout and profess in the freedom of religion, while on the other, protest the building of mosques in their own communities.
@Celestial_Teapot@xanga -
Some christians do, not all, lets be objective. I see nothing wrong in have places of worship for other religions. Here in Atlanta there are plenty.
Peace
Mark
I just hope that all of us, Christian or no, will be able to continue exercising the gift of religious freedom in this country; as a Catholic I feel like things are becoming increasingly difficult.
@Celestial_Teapot@xanga - It is an expression of liberty for a free people to determine the morals of their communities.
Islam is the perennial enemy of Western Civilization. They were beaten back by the Spaniards and the French during the Middle Ages and thus was Western Civilization saved.
Islam is still a pre-modern religion that espouses a pre-modern world view. The Christianity has had to adapt to the advances brought by the civilization it spawned.
Not so Islam.
@PrisonerxOfxLove@xanga -
Our faith was like that a few centruries ago, don't forget we Christians were killing each other as well. According to our laws, no one religion cannot be favoried over another. Most Muslims are not violent, those that are could truly make it hard for their fellow believers in the future.
Peace
Mark
@Ancient_Scribe@xanga -
I agree, I believe we are going to have a rocky time in the future. I am catholic as well.
peace
mark
@markdohle - That's exactly my point. Christianity advanced. Islam did not.
Also, Islam has always been the mortal enemy of Christianity.First on the agenda of Islam as it swept out of Arabia on its never ending Jihad was to wipe out Christianity. And that's exactly what it did in the lands of Africa, Asia Minor and the Middle East, which had been Christian for centuries.
@PrisonerxOfxLove@xanga -"That's exactly my point. Christianity advanced. Islam did not."
It's not too far behind considering that Islam is the better part of a millennium newer than Christianity.
Sorry, your religion isn't special.
@When_We_Were_Both_Cats@xanga - The Muslims attacked Tours in 732AD. That is much less than a millenium.
And since Christianity powered the rise of Western Civilization, the greatest civilization in human history, it shines like sun compared to the rest of white dwarf religions.
No Christianity, no science. No Christianity, no modernity. No Christianity, no human rights. No Christianity, a world still mired in the 7th century.
Christianity is indeed very special.
Agreed.
@PrisonerxOfxLove@xanga - Prior to and during the middle ages, it were only Islamic communities that had notions of public hospitals and degree-granting universities.
@nyclegodesi24@xanga - So where is all that now? Nowhere, that's where.
Only in the Christian West was the university institutionalized and the hospital instituted as a matter of PRIVATE charity.
Islam has never been comfortable with the academy or science or private enterprise.
@PrisonerxOfxLove@xanga - What are you talking about, Islam has never been comfortable with the academy or science or private enterprise? Like I said, degree-granting universities were created in Islamic countries. And physical exploration as a basis of knowledge in the Middle Ages came through Islamic philosophers (like Avicenna) who taught the teachings of Aristotle. Literature and philosophy and scientific research freely flowed between Arabic countries during the Middle Ages, while the various Catholic popes prohibited the works of Aristotle, and while Christian monks believed the only form of knowledge possible whatsoever was a priori.
@nyclegodesi24@xanga - Look at Islamic countries. They are still in the 7th century except for their oil wealth.
Islam requires submission to religion and the powers that be, with reason and liberty taking a back seat.@PrisonerxOfxLove@xanga - "Islam requires submission to religion and the powers that be, with reason and liberty taking a back seat."
No different from the philosophy I see you share. You are against individual rights and forfeit reason to faith.
The Islamic world has contributed a lot to the West. You are blind to it because your western-supremist outlook comes with bias. The current Middle East has FAR too many socio-economic factors to pretend that the only difference between Europe and the Middle East is merely the difference between Christianity and Islam, of which only Muslims and Christians think are very different, because they aren't.
@When_We_Were_Both_Cats@xanga - The entire world has contributed a lot to the West. No one ever made a claim contrary to that.
My claim is that Western Civilization is the only one in human history to put it all together systematically.
Just think of other long-lived civilizations like Egypt, China and Rome. They never developed beyond horses, oxen and donkeys.
Only the West with its Christianity, developed science which led to cars, alternating electricity and the computer chip.
@PrisonerxOfxLove@xanga - You're cherry picking contributions. For instance , China invented paper, without which, intellectualism, literature, academia, et cetera, wouldn't have been possible. Egypt invented structures that the West couldn't better for over a millenium. Rome IS western history.
As long as you ignore contradictions and confirm your own prejudices, you'll always be able to live a happy cognitive-dissonanced life as a Western-supremacist.
@When_We_Were_Both_Cats@xanga - I've cherry picked nothing. The Egyptians were using paper long before the Chinese. But neither the Chinese nor the Egyptians were able to develop science like the West.
My claim is that of all civilizations, only Western Civilization was able to put it all together. I'm not making the claim that Western Civilization did not benefit from developments in other parts of the world.Only in Western Civilization was education systematized and made available to many, many people outside the ruling class for centuries and centuries.
That, along with the Christian world view is what brought about the development of science and the scientific revolution.