I woke up Monday morning to a world where starvation occurs, where
so many are a fire away from homelessness and others are already there, where
babies are not safe even with some parents, where corporations poison our soil and
water and want laws making it illegal to let us know what’s in our food, where
females are sold into sexual slavery daily, but the news being spoken of is how
a coffee shop hates Jesus, according to some Christians, because they didn’t decorate their paper cups with
Christmas trees. They made the cups red but no candy canes or any such symbols.
It was called a war on Christmas. This is truly insane. I believe even Jesus
would find it hard to have patience with such assholery. Maybe he'd be able to still love the asshole but not the assholery.
There are moments I want to scream (to show them how they act)
and insist that there’s been a war on Hanukkah and Eid for so long (even my computer
doesn’t recognize Eid and has underlined it in red), therefore, those in power
must hate Abraham and Moses and Allah.
The problem with that is so many would not recognize their own
behavior. They would only see what’s wrong with mine. It would be missing the
connection, the Golden Rule. If it isn’t right for me to carry on like that,
then it isn’t right for anyone to carry on that way. I can’t get over that this
makes television news.
Religious freedom* means you can practice or not practice your
religion (or even change your religion), and you are not supposed to be jailed
or murdered for that. It does NOT mean you should try to make everyone practice
your religion. That is not freedom. That is not the United States of America,
land of the free. That is not the aim of the country my grandfather served.
If I wish you a nice and safe holiday, it doesn’t mean I want
you to have an un-merry Christmas or anything at all negative. I don’t think
when people tell me “Merry Christmas” that they are killing Hanukkah or Three
Kings Day or Eid. I just think they haven’t yet stretched their minds to imagine
that not everyone lives as they do.
From whatever I’ve learned about the man we call Jesus, I
really think he’d be so much more concerned with how many aren’t being fed than with the
people in the USA buying and drinking overpriced coffee out of cups without
Santas on them.
*Freedom of religion or freedom of belief is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion.[1] The freedom to leave or discontinue membership in a religion or religious group—in religious terms called "apostasy"—is also a fundamental part of religious freedom, covered by Article 18 of United Nations' 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[2] Freedom of religion is considered by many people and nations to be a fundamental human right.[3][4] In a country with a state religion, freedom of religion is generally considered to mean that the government permits religious practices of other sects besides the state religion, and does not persecute believers in other faiths.
