Cross

Durham_Devil · Sat, 30 Oct 1999 21:42:20 -0700

Tonight in the qb chatroom, a religious argument
took place. It dealt with people generally referring
to Christianity in unflattering, unfair, and
misinformed terms. It included blaming the current Church for
the Crusades (which occurred about 7-8 centuries ago)
and for people using it to justify killing (which the
Church in no way condones). Furthermore, these comments
were made in front of three Christians, two of whom
were in no mood to have these comments made. I was one
of them, as you may guess.

I have no problem
with people telling me why they disagree with my
religion as long as they keep the argument intellectual
and reasonable. But to use archaic and misleading
arguments is unreasonable. Furthermore, no matter what
religion we're talking about, referring to someone's way
of life as nothing more than "superstitions" is flat
out wrong -- yet someone said that to me in a Private
Message.

If it were a simple one-night thing, I'd understand.
However, it has been my impression that Christianity in
all its forms has been given a dirty look by the QB
community at large. Whether it's at the high school level
-- I've never been in favor of Maryland holding
their tournament all day on a Sunday -- or on the
largest of stages -- CBI refusing to juggle their
schedule to accomodate BYU -- Religion is considered an
inconvenience (seemingly) in the community. It is ironic that,
in a community where you can be mauled for not
believing in ACF, NAQT, TRASH, masters teams, or anything
else trivial, no one will care about your obligations
to the Lord's Day.

I'm not asking for replies
one way or the other. I do not want to start a
flamewar. I won't name names. None of that does any
good.

Just please consider, whether you believe God is an
omnipotent being or in the same category as leprechauns
(yes, I've been told that, too), that no one should
belittle the religion of anybody. Period. We don't ever
badmouth Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Shintoism, or Buddhism;
why does it make sense to do it to Islam, Judaism,
and Christianity?

Religion is religion. Study
it. Agree or disagree with it. Ask about it. Learn
from it. Follow it. But DO NOT BELITTLE IT OR ITS
FOLLOWERS!

Thank you.

Andy Goss
Registered Roman
Catholic