Cool it! Time to Get Along - Seriously
David M. Bresnahan
March 14, 2009
"You go to your church, and Iīll go to mine, but letīs walk along together." Thatīs the recommendation of a wonderful poem I learned in my youth, and it is about time we all took it to heart.
Intolerance and ignorance, distortions and misrepresentations, along with the use of intimidation and manipulation are never been successful methods of persuading someone to a particular point of view.
Many church organizations have come under fire from homosexual activist groups, politicians, and the media following the California vote on Proposition 8 in November of 2008. The natural reaction of many who are being attacked is to fight back. Church members of various denominations have sometimes been vocal in the press about the sinfulness of the homosexual lifestyle.
All of this has continued to escalate as both sides continue their efforts, justifying their actions with the wrongs they feel have been committed against them.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and itīs members appear to be the recipients of a disproportionate amount of the criticism from many of the activists and media. To their credit, the LDS Church itself, often referred to as the Mormon Church, has not reciprocated. Unfortunately a few individual members, including an elected official, have not followed that example.
Mormons are now expressing dismay over an episode of the HBO series Big Love in which sacred temple ceremonies are inaccurately depicted. The show frequently uses themes that wrongly paint Mormons in general as unsympathetic people who are narrow-minded, self-righteous, and hateful.
The truth is that there are good Mormons and bad Mormons, as there are good and bad in every religion. It is also true that there are good and bad in groups of all kinds.
In all my travels to many countries over the years, I have never met a single person who has said that they want to be miserable, stressed out, and unhappy. All people value harmony, peace, and happiness.
We need to all understand that we can never convert the entire world to our way of thinking. If someone wants to believe the way to heaven is one way, and you believe it is another way, why not just smile and avoid contention? Fighting about it will not change either side, and will just raise everyoneīs blood pressure.
I disagree with the attacks of the homosexuals against Mormons and others, and I disagree with the conservative and religious activists who attack back. However, I will defend to the death their right to behave as they do. It is a fundamental right of every person to speak out, act out, and in general make a fool of themself. The First Amendment must be defended and upheld, even if we disagree with those who use it to speak out.
However, even though we have the right to be disrespectful and ignorant does not mean that we should. Just because I do not agree with the homosexual lifestyle does not mean I should attack them every chance I get. We need to all get along and allow all people to make the choices they wish. We will each receive the natural consequences of those choices. Hopefully we will learn from our mistakes and make changes to improve.
Toleration does not mean agreement. Life is too short to spend it fighting. When someone does something to deliberately cause anger and to incite angry debate, the best thing to do is to walk away. Why fight with someone who cannot be persuaded? They will ultimately be seen by others for what they are.
The best choice continues to be, "You go to your church, and Iīll go to mine, but letīs walk along together."
Intolerance and ignorance, distortions and misrepresentations, along with the use of intimidation and manipulation are never been successful methods of persuading someone to a particular point of view.
Many church organizations have come under fire from homosexual activist groups, politicians, and the media following the California vote on Proposition 8 in November of 2008. The natural reaction of many who are being attacked is to fight back. Church members of various denominations have sometimes been vocal in the press about the sinfulness of the homosexual lifestyle.
All of this has continued to escalate as both sides continue their efforts, justifying their actions with the wrongs they feel have been committed against them.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and itīs members appear to be the recipients of a disproportionate amount of the criticism from many of the activists and media. To their credit, the LDS Church itself, often referred to as the Mormon Church, has not reciprocated. Unfortunately a few individual members, including an elected official, have not followed that example.
Mormons are now expressing dismay over an episode of the HBO series Big Love in which sacred temple ceremonies are inaccurately depicted. The show frequently uses themes that wrongly paint Mormons in general as unsympathetic people who are narrow-minded, self-righteous, and hateful.
The truth is that there are good Mormons and bad Mormons, as there are good and bad in every religion. It is also true that there are good and bad in groups of all kinds.
In all my travels to many countries over the years, I have never met a single person who has said that they want to be miserable, stressed out, and unhappy. All people value harmony, peace, and happiness.
We need to all understand that we can never convert the entire world to our way of thinking. If someone wants to believe the way to heaven is one way, and you believe it is another way, why not just smile and avoid contention? Fighting about it will not change either side, and will just raise everyoneīs blood pressure.
I disagree with the attacks of the homosexuals against Mormons and others, and I disagree with the conservative and religious activists who attack back. However, I will defend to the death their right to behave as they do. It is a fundamental right of every person to speak out, act out, and in general make a fool of themself. The First Amendment must be defended and upheld, even if we disagree with those who use it to speak out.
However, even though we have the right to be disrespectful and ignorant does not mean that we should. Just because I do not agree with the homosexual lifestyle does not mean I should attack them every chance I get. We need to all get along and allow all people to make the choices they wish. We will each receive the natural consequences of those choices. Hopefully we will learn from our mistakes and make changes to improve.
Toleration does not mean agreement. Life is too short to spend it fighting. When someone does something to deliberately cause anger and to incite angry debate, the best thing to do is to walk away. Why fight with someone who cannot be persuaded? They will ultimately be seen by others for what they are.
The best choice continues to be, "You go to your church, and Iīll go to mine, but letīs walk along together."
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