[softy54534]

Thank you, I'm currently taking a Muslim-Christian Dialogue class at my University and my teacher eats this stuff up. (extra credit? FUCK YEAH!)

[S.T.D.]

This is porn for people who love humanity.

[Beerinkol]

Indeed. I just blew a big hot humanity load.

[Ifroham4]

I think many of the people in this forum are so young and caught up in religious and political debate all the time they don't realize that people DO act this way in the USA, it's just rarely as dramatic as depicted in this picture because there isn't violence in the streets.
People who are so buried in political and religious debate will naturally have difficulty realizing this as they tend to see everything through their own darkened lens.

[tgs]

File this under: things you will never seen on FOX News.

[brraverishhh]

Things you will see on FOX News: Bill O'Reilly calling Al Jazeera a mouthpiece for Al Qaeda.

[9mm_fan]

Just registered to post this. I am an Atheist, and this picture makes me want to cry. If all people of all religions were like this, the world would be a much better place. I was raised by strict Christians, and if they were all like this, accepting and caring and tolerant, the way religion is SUPPOSED to teach you to be, I would find NOTHING wrong with religion.

[Fegasderty]

I'd like to make an interesting point: tolerant is a bad word, but I only realized this a few years back. I used to use it. When you realize midday that you have a hole in your sock, you tolerate it until you can change it. If your apartment building needs to turn off the water for a few hours, you tolerate it. You need to be tolerant of the noise of construction when you walk down the street. In short, you tolerate things until you can remove them or until you leave them behind. It's called pain tolerance for a reason. You don't 'endure' other ways of life. You don't tolerate other religions, people of other backgrounds. You accept them.

[Slonopotam845]

Accepting > Tolerant > Intolerant.
If someone can't find it in themselves to be genuinely accepting yet, being tolerant is better than nothing.

[S.T.D.]

You don't 'endure' other ways of life. You don't tolerate other religions, people of other backgrounds. You accept them.

Of course, the teachings of Jesus state that you should even love them. But I don't see people trying that too often.

[Beerinkol]

This is really the point that most Christians miss, you should love everyone, particularly those who hate you.

[Ifroham4]

This is why 9/11 sealed me away from the church so heavily, as a vast majority of Christian Americans revealed their complete inability to forgive and love those who wronged them.

[tgs]

Well said... and disheartening.

[Ifroham4]

It has been an intense source of angst for me for about 10 years now, right? Can't believe it's been that long.
I'm of the opinion, though, that the hypocrisy induces a great deal of cognitive dissonance in our society, and that dissonance has to reach a breaking point, a realization.
It's like when a person represses something they fear, perhaps an extreme fear of being judged as Ugly by their peers, so they do a lot to avoid attention, and often have nightmares about it. Until one day something snaps, a nightmare or dream or impulse from someone, a film or book, something initiates a change and they realize that it doesn't matter, or that they are in fact beautiful in some way.
Life changes after that.

[NeroASERCH]

This is really the point that most Christians miss, you should love everyone, particularly those who hate you.

As a Christian I agree. However, there are still behaviors that Christ didn't condone. For example, the cleansing of the temple was done out of love for the Father and for the people that were being pushed away from God by the wrongdoing of supposedly righteous men. Love is of paramount importance, but the world's understanding of love is different from God's.
Cleansing of the Temple - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Isaiah 55 - Invitation to the Thirsty - ?Come, - Bible Gateway
In summary, Christians are often unloving. This is a tragedy. However, if you're refused the church's stamp of approval for your every action, be cautious before you label this "unloving". It not always as simple as people think.

[Beerinkol]

This is true, I suppose, but we are also called to leave judgement to Him, and to mind ourselves. I think this is the most important message to Christians: because judgement is not for us, and because hypocrisy makes any sin one has committed more sinful.