Today I think I'm going to write on a rant that I had this morning on twitter. Here I can say everything in a much clearer way - 140 characters doesn't always cut it!
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At least once a week I hear or read someone complaining about religious people "shoving their religion down people's throats." I'm honestly quite sick of the comments. I am a Catholic. I believe and agree with everything the Catholic Church teaches. I often tell people who are going through a rough period that I will be praying for them, and I will often make my opinion known in conversations - even my Catholic-based opinions. Regardless of what I say, though, I never push my opinions down anybody's throat. I will argue my points and explain where I am coming from, but I willl never force my opinions on people. I respect what other people believe and I in no way think that forcing someone to believe something is the right way to go about life. When I talk with you about what I believe, it is the same way others talk about their beliefs on gay rights or drinking. When you talk about what you believe, do you think that you're forcing it onto people? I certainly hope now. Religious people can have a discussion about religion just the way a homosexual can talk about being gay. There's nothing wrong with explaining why you believe something.
Guess what. I pray for all of you every single day. By praying for you, I'm not forcing my religion upon you. Rather, I am doing everything in my power to help you out. You believing that it won't work doesn't mean I can't try to do it to help you.
When a friend of mine has a headache, I offer her some sort of pain medication. Now, she could look at me and say, "I don't believe that medicine works! Stop trying to force it on me!" I would calmly reply that I wasn't forcing it on her; I was simply offering her an option that I believed would work. I was doing everything I could to make her life better for her. I may even explain to her the reasons I believe the medicine would work. At this point, she would still be free to tell me that she wanted nothing to do with my medicine, and that would be perfectly fine. She doesn't have to accept my help. The fact that I did my best is all that matters.
The same goes for religion. If you are having a tough day, then I will always offer up a prayer for you, because I feel as though the prayer will help. If you don't think that it will work, then so be it. I certainly did nothing to hurt you and also clearly forced nothing on you. I just did my best to help in a way I thought would make your life better.
Now, I'm not saying that no religious people ever shove their religion down people's throats. I'll be the first to admit that yes, some people do. However, what many non-religious people don't realize is that people who aren't religious shove their lack of religion down people's throats just as much as religious people do. Why is it "okay" for someone to shove their non-religious beliefs down someone's throat? It's not. People need to look at what they are criticizing and think about whether or not they do it, too. Yes, I know it's annoying to have something "shoved down your throat." However, people are doing it far less than one may think - and it's happening on both sides.
Next time you want to complain about someone shoving something down your throat, try to remember the fact that it (most likely) isn't their intention and that they are only trying to help - the same way you would help a sad person feel better or a child reach something.
Love always, Trisha xx
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