/Portals/2/logos/__TFMF_mmyubjqrygbict45oyo3ufru_b3552f73-25ca-4729-bc5b-cfdfdf36f8ab_0___Selected.jpg en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Sun, 19 May 2013 10:24:05 GMT 15 By Davis Einolf
Let me begin by saying that I am a Christian, a Lutheran to be specific. I enjoy going to church on a regular basis and even served a year on my church’s council, so I consider myself reasonably devout. I will also say that I believe myself to be open-minded, even though it’s a phrase I hear thrown around in many cases where it should be reserved. Lastly, and most important, I do not in any way think that these two qualities – religious devotion and open-mindedness – are mutually exclusive. Too often in the supposedly friendly and accepting halls of Cleveland High School and around Portland I hear rampant, severe and unsolicited criticism of mainstream religion and its followers with a broad emphasis on the concept of religion rather than on the social policies of specific sects. That is to say I hear people decrying the idea of religion in general – the simple belief in a higher power or powers – as evil, illogical or just downright stupid. These same people lump the worshippers of any religion in with the stereotypes that evolved from radical and isolated sects of that belief system, or to put it brusquely, they hate the sin and the sinner, believing them to be one and the same. There are countless stereotypes that are brandished about like a veritable sword of liberalism, under the pretense that they righteously condemn those who the stereotypes describe, but in reality is only a product of ignorance, malevolence and close-mindedness. The stereotype that any and all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, are polygamists is upheld only by a group of a couple hundred dissenters on a ranch who are completed disavowed by the LDS church at large. Furthermore, the idea that all Catholics are resolutely against abortion and contraceptives is disproved daily by Cleveland students investing in their health classes at school. Even misconstrued beliefs about the stereotypes conservatives unilaterally support, such as the idea that all conservatives view members of the Islamic faith as terrorists, is most certainly false. This is not to say that conservatives and many others do not have stereotypes of their own that are equally so reprehensible, but I simply seek to point out that those who claim an open mindset bear a responsibility to be the better person and avoid unjust judgment. For a liberal to see all conservatives with the same narrow mind that conservatives purportedly possess is, to borrow a word that has seen an incredible amount of use in the recent Republican primary debates: hypocritical. The problem of narrow-mindedness that afflicts the world today is not necessarily the product of religion, but rather of unsupported bias and hatred, which stems as often from intolerance of opposing views as from religion. Throughout my life I have met many people who devoutly follow a traditionally conservative religious denomination yet support, for example, charitable and civic minded causes, and I’ve met many more self-professed Atheists and supposed liberals who are so averse to the concept of religion that they will instantly regard any policies or agendas drafted by a pious conservative, no matter how beneficial to the world at large as an object of derision. Being liberal implies acceptance and forward thinking, and hating other people simply based on the religion or political party they belong to dissembles the ideals of liberalism itself. There are too many global calamities in this day and age that could be solved by a simple increase in both understanding and empathy on the parts of the aggrieved parties for any to ignore. I do not uphold that any conservative groups are free from bias or injustice, but it is painfully obvious that many liberal parties are rife with the very same narrow-mindedness that they preach loudly against. Until one side or the other, or both, reconcile their prejudice and move on, the world will begin to decline. As the side that professes to be free of such obstinacy, any who claim to be liberal need to seize the initiative to improve themselves and the world by simply stop judging books by their covers, or religions, or political views, and just start viewing everyone as another human, trying to live. ]]> Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:23:40 GMT