Blogspot#4: I close my eyes and pray.

Religion

Religion

Having a different religion doesn't really change anyone or whatever belief they have. It makes them into who they are today. I was rasied as a Christian-Catholic, but since I heard about issues against the Church, I decided that I believed in God but didn't believe in the Church. I still go to Mass every Sunday, I still do the things every person who believes in Jesus Christ, but I don't read the Bible, that's the only thing that I don't do. It never changed my beliefs, but I was bullied for it, and I never really got the reason I was being bullied. I know a lot of people who do the same thing as I do and others are completely okay with it. 

According to Sabrina Holcomb, writer of "Muslims in America: When Bullying Meets Religion", wrriten for www.muslimsmatter.org and according to the article that there is a Debate team champion, Autena Torbati, had a teammate who announced to class that he would have "liked Hitler better if had he killed all the Muslims, instead of Jews. Remember, the Holocaust started with words before ending in gas chambers." And according to the article that in Autena's case, bullying has been confined to verbal taunts, threatening gestures, and an anti-Muslim opinion piece in the school newspaper. But for the other Muslim students, verbal assults have escalated into physical abuse, as anti-Islamic sentiment sweeps the nation. Bullying is an equal-opportunity crisis, affecting students of every age, race, and creed. The dimension that makes the bullying of Muslim students particularly disturbing centers around the open prejudices and fears of adults, giving the green light to non-Muslim children that it's okay -- even patriotic -- to discriminate. 

I have friends from different countries, who have different religions and they told me that they were being bullied for being different and there is an article I found written by Dan Haesler, called "When freedom ore religion becomes bullying" for the www.onlineopinion.com.au, according to article to date, the government has granted exemptions for religious schools to discriminate on the basis of religion, sexual orientation and martial stauts with respect to the staff and students. With the governments's announcement, the CSA are worried that its schools stand to lose that right. The group's chief exective offiver, Stephan O'Doherty said "We currently have the ability to employ people who have Christian beliefs and whose lifestyles are consistent with those beliefs. We are seeking exemptions to be able to employ staff who are Christian and hold certain beliefs. For instance, many Christians believe that being an active homosexual or living with a partner out of wedlock is not part of the Christian faith." 

I remember saying this, I was raised with my family hating the things I support, I have had a lot of friends who are from different religions and he doesn't like it if I go talk to them because he thinks that my friends would influence me and make me change my religion, but I am still Catholic and I still hang out with my friends who come from different countries and I still hang out with them. My dad and his side of the family, they keep on making fun of people with different religions, even if they don't know who they are, seeing my friends cry because they are made fun of, I just tell me my dad to stop. Bullying, it doesn't have to be about religion, it is a hard thing to go through.

There is a site I found about religion discrimination and it showed me Bible verses, the site is called www.openbible.info, and title of the post is called "What Does the Bible Say About Bullying?" I saw this Bible verse, which us from Deuteronomy 31:6 and it says "Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave your forsake you."  I think this goes out to everyone, whether you are from a different religion, I think the God that you believe in won't you go against the wrath of the bullies.

If you have a different religion, as long as you believe in someone who you know will give you miracles or blessings in your life then you are saved. All those times I doubt God and Jesus, They were giving blessings in disguise, it was very challenging, I can say that but it was worth it. It was something that I needed to face in order for me to know that whenever I was down and might think of something bad that I will do against myself, I just needed God.

There are so many people who are bullied for having something different about them and religionn is one of them. I saw an article written by James Hamblin, who wrote "Bullied for Not Believing in God" which can be found in www.theatlantic.com and according to James, there was a guy named Gage Pulliam, who took a photo of a plaque that had the Ten Commandments listed on, as it hung on the wall of his Oklahoma high school's biology classroom, he emailed the photo anonymously, to the Freedom From Religion Foundation. They then sent a complaint to the school district, which asked Muldrow High School to take the plaque down. According to Pulliam, "In the wake of my confession, my mother worried for my safety. She was also worried that my teachers would grade me differently. My sister, an 8th grader, said other students wouldn't look at her, and in one instance, she couldn't even get a class project done because her groupmates refused to talk to her." Pulliam's justification for taking the photo in the first place: "I want people to know this isn't me trying to attack religion. This is me trying to create an enviroment for kids where they can feel equal." 

I saw this article called "Stop Bullying Not Judging People Because of Their Race, Religion, Sexual Identity or By Looks and Body Type Size", written by Rye Cather for www.ryecatcher.hubpages.com and according to him, "In this day and age, people, particularly younger people. are being judge and attacked for their religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and the worst of all, their physical appearance. People are judged, ridiculed, hazed and made fun of just because of their physical look. People and school children are being teased on a regular and aggressive basis and are getting desperate to feel like they fit in, They are judged by their body type, weight, skin color, ethincity, race, sexual orientation and for what they believe in their religion." I think that people should really stop making fun of others because they are different, you can't force them to be like you. Everyone was created differently, we were created in out unique way because if we weren't, we would all be like robots.

Hermant Mehta, writer of "Protecting Yourself Against Religious Bullies" for the www.patheos.com said that "If you are a person of faith and someone tells you that you are an affront to God and that God is going to send you to burn in hell, that's very upsetting thing to hear. The sad fact of life is that for someone people, reliogion isn't about learning to love and respect others; it is about learning to hate and demonize others. If anyone ever tells you that they know wht God's will is and that God hates you, they have just proven that they believe God wants them to hate." 

It makes me sad that people tell others not to talk or befriend someone who has a different religion. It doesn't really matter, like I said, we were made different and that is how it is going to be for the rest of our lives.