I wanted to share this:

I’m Intolerant of Intolerance (and I’m Sorry)

August 5, 2010 By Rick Leave a Comment

Writing about creativity involves writing about divinity, the two are utterly intertwined. God is love, God is creation, creation is love. I have found that it’s hard to be creative if you are not coming from some emotion, love being one, but anger, fear and loneliness will do in a pinch. Emotion is called “spirit”, coincidently, another word we use to describe divinity. When you tread into these regions, you risk upsetting some people, if you don’t describe Creation, God and Spirit in JUST the right terms, people will spank you and send you to your room.

The older I get, the more of my own flaws I discover, and today I caught myself on the verge of erupting over something I should know better about: Religion. I am confessing today.

In the last month I have found myself on the periphery of (or in the middle of) several arguments over who gets to go to Heaven, who is living a better life, who gets “scripture” right, who should be shunned and who gets to judge. Being a “spirit of the law” instead of the “letter of the law” type of guy, I find myself judging the would be judges. That’s a bad idea. I am no more qualified to judge them than they are me.

Look, I understand that if there was no judgement, there would be no prisons. If there were no judgement, we’d eat fast food, drive vehicles that destroy the environment and we’d elect leaders who lie to us to justify unjust wars. Well… you know what I mean, we have a pretty good track record at judging the IMPORTANT stuff, like who says the Lord’s Prayer right or who has the right day of the week for the Sabbath Day. Well, ok, we make a lot of judgements, some of them are correct.

I am not against judgement. I am against dismissive judgement based on a few (or no) facts. I am against pointless religious arguments and wars that argue over who has better judgement. I am very tired of arguments about God dividing us and pulling us further from his very nature.

Therefore; I am in no position to judge using few (or no) facts, either. If you, for example, argue vehemently that Ghandi or the Dali Lama aren’t going to heaven because they don’t go to your church or agree with your Pastor, I am judging you if I call you narrow minded. If one of my friends writes a beautiful song (and another friend makes a great music video out of it) about seeing Jesus in everyone you meet; I am a fool if I get angry with you for saying it doesn’t agree with scripture and should be condemned. (But gee whiz, with all the horrible rap and rock lyrics out there, why can’t you embrace this song?)

If I wonder why you are concerned that a Methodist married a Jew, I am judging you for making a judgement of your own. I messed up. You are entitled to your concerns, opinions and judgements.

I am weak.

I am weak if I judge your church as ignorant for burning a Koran on Sunday or if you condemn all gays to hell. I am wrong for calling you a hypocrite because you don’t drink coffee for religious reasons, yet, you are all but addicted to Diet Coke. I am wretched for judging you for cheating your insurance company while proclaiming your allegiance to God.

I am weak for pointing out the main message of your religion is that of forgiveness and love, not of judgement and hatred. I can point that out; but, I should not judge in doing so. I am wrong for not embracing why we are more similar than different. I am wrong for not seeing that you are doing your best, that you love God and are seeking salvation according to your beliefs. I am wrong for making sweeping generalizations about you because we disagree about the nature of God.

I am no judge. I can not cast the first stone. I can not say that I am righteous if I only have other human beings to compare myself to, after all, the bar has been set pretty low. (That’s why we invented gossip, we can always feel good about ourselves if we have someone else to talk about).

So yes, even though this blog entry sounds like a sarcastic piece to prove I am right, it is not, this is my confession. I am weak. Here’s my goal, from now on:

Seek first to understand.

(Which, btw, is from Steven Covey, not the Bible, it’s the 5th Habit.)

I am seeking, one day at a time, to live without judging before I understand.

Judgement is inevitable, understanding is not.

It is too easy wrap somebody up in a label: Liberal, Conservative, Christian, Muslim, Italian, Black, Prostitute, Preacher. Once we have labeled someone, we are free to judge.

We are free to gossip and dismiss it with, “Bless his heart”. We are free to decide that he is a “greedy capitalist” or a she is “welfare queen”. We are free to say someone is “stupid” or “narrow minded” or “He doesn’t understand salvation.”

In reality, we are all doing the best we can and yes, some of us make mistakes, sometimes intentionally and we deserve to be judged. I’m not equivocating here, I’m not saying there is no right or wrong. There most definitely is. And, you have a right to judge. You also have a right to yell “FIRE” in a crowded theater. I’d hope you would use wisdom with both.

I suggest this: I suggest that we allow, in all situations, to allow for the fact that OUR judgement might be wrong. It’s been known to happen: at least to me. We might not have all the facts, might not know the whole story, might not know why someone would make what seems like such an obvious mistake. We might keep in mind that no one intentionally makes a bad decision.

I hope God would. Doesn’t seem to be much point in being all knowing and supernatural if you aren’t going to use it.

My solution: Go hold a baby. Rock it, sing to it, let it smile at you. Let it touch your heart, feel God’s creation against your breast. (You are God’s creation too). Sing to her, rock him, laugh. Feel joy.

This is a future war hero, a future Pastor, the guy who invents the cure for cancer. This is the crack whore before she gets addicted, it’s Rush Limbaugh before he swallows all that hot air, it’s the quadriplegic begging with a coffee jar; it’s you. It’s creation.

I’m not going to judge God’s work, again, until I understand it.

I think I found Jesus: