The Religion of the Three Bears

Before I post my first official blog, I would like to clarify a few things:

1.  I write to clear my mind, to try to clarify my thoughts, or to seek input from others to help me understand the “other” side of a topic.

2.  I always welcome comments, but if they get personal, belligerent or offensive, I will delete them. I am not the US Government, and therefore I can trust in God and I can censor anything I choose. Please don’t make me.

3.  Religion (Christianity) is an important part of my life.

4.  My religious beliefs do not require me to check my brain at the door.

5.  In addition to the freedom of religion, people also have the right to be ignorant. It is not expressly stated in the Constitution, but implied in various places. Do not even try to deny them this right. This applies to the religious and non-religious.

6.  Everyone has the right to express their opinion, and disagree with the opinion of others. If you don’t like it you can change the channel, but you will probably not change the person or the opinion.

There are plenty more, but I’ll throw those in when appropriate.

So my opinion of the day involves religion. As you can probably tell by now, I have an opinion on religion, but that’s not the point. The point is if, how, when, and where I can express my opinion on religion, or for that matter, any topic? I’ll explain, but to do so I first need to tell you a story of three bears.

This is the story of Momma Bear, Bachelor Bear, and Baby Bear. In reality, all three probably know each other, but in no way are they related. They all grew up in the same town, but are now spread all over the country. I am friends with all three on Facebook. And that’s how the story starts.

It starts with Baby Bear, who several months back, declared in his status that he has no desire to hear anyone speak of religion. Everyone should, according to Baby Bear, keep their opinions to themselves. I had to chuckle at this. Isn’t Baby Bear expressing his opinion of other people’s opinion, which we are supposed to keep to ourselves?  Expanding on that, Baby Bear is quite often expressing his opinions on sports, the weather, music, holidays, people, colors, the periodic table of elements, and so on. His profile pic is full of pictures expressing his opinion of a major league baseball team.  So Baby Bear’s point seems to be, don’t post your religious comments on Facebook because he doesn’t want to read them. In light of all of the political and social opinions that I read on Facebook every day, that seems a little unrealistic, in my opinion.

Then there is Momma Bear and Bachelor Bear. Momma Bear is a Christian. Bachelor Bear is, according to his Facebook profile, an atheist/agnostic. I respect each of them for choosing to believe what they want, worship as they choose or not choose, and their desire to openly express their opinions. Momma Bear often posts scripture as her status. Bachelor Bear frequently posts articles/editorials focusing on anti-religious topics. His posts are usually reflective of the actions/beliefs of the ultra-conservative religious. Many of them I agree are shocking and portray unflattering pictures of various religious groups and movements (Topeka’s Rev Fred Phelps is a perfect example). Recently Bachelor Bear commented on Momma Bears scripture-based status, stating that if she were proselytizing on his doorstep, he would have the ability to close the door on her. In the social network world, he opted to “unfriend” her.  Knowing his religious stance, I can see why he did it, but it seems rather extreme, in my opinion.

Back to Baby Bear, who even more recently posted his desire to have his friends join him in church where they could enjoy the company of God's friends - Superman, the Tooth Fairy,  Wilma Flintstone, and other non-existent characters. One might conclude that Baby Bear was not expressing an opinion, and did indeed see those mythical characters in church that Sunday. One might even say that Baby Bear experienced this reality in the comforts of his own home.  I just think Baby Bear now finds it acceptable to post your opinion on religion. This is a nice change, in my opinion.

There’s plenty more to the story, but you get the idea. Social networking, if you believe the recent hit movie, was developed to connect with our friends; to share our thoughts, ideas, and experiences.  It would seem to me that there is an unwritten expectation that you won’t agree with everything that your friends post. If so, your friends list is either very small, very specific, or none of them post a thing. In that case, not a very rewarding experience, in my opinion.

So how are we to react in this socially connected world? I hope that this is an environment where you can appreciate what the other person is trying to express. If you want to take it one step farther, then try to explore that opinion a little deeper. Understanding an opposing opinion usually helps to strengthen the argument for your position, and who knows, maybe it will enlighten you a little bit in the process. That is a positive aspect of Facebook, in my opinion.

The downside is that in an environment based on written words, it is easy for people to mistakenly take it personally or become offended. I have to ask, do you really think that their intent is to offend anyone/everyone? I find that hard to believe. I believe that the intent is to either persuade anyone not holding a strong belief on a certain issue that their opinion is indeed the right opinion. Or maybe it is to simply share an interesting perspective with other friends who have similar beliefs. Either way, unfortunately, it often only pushes people away, and that’s too bad, in my opinion.

So why can’t we/shouldn’t we allow people to express their opinion on any and every topic? If you disagree, the options are plenty. You can choose to block them from showing up in your newsfeed, you can block them from seeing your posts, and if it is appropriate, you can choose to remove them as a friend. But you cannot deny them the right to express what is on their mind, but that’s my opinion.

So, at the end of the story, what happened to the three bears? They all lived happily ever after firmly holding on to their beliefs, or at least that’s my opinion.

The question – am I missing something?