“Buy me a drink?” That is what the policeman said to my relative after stopping him for speeding on a highway in a Caribbean country. My relative had the tact to be polite, to admit to speeding and to treat the officer with respect.
A shining example just occurred in New Zealand. A week after the insane murder of fifty Muslims and the injury of dozens more—in the name of some twisted “identity”—New Zealanders of all faiths and walks of life mourned the deaths together.
I was raised Roman Catholic and my husband was raised Jewish. I had my First Communion at the age of 6 and my husband had his bar mitzvah at age 13, so we’re both legit in our respective faiths.
How to express oneself is a personal choice. But just know that hate speech is not rational; its effect is cumulative and it undermines other freedoms as it spreads.
Hysterical cheers swept through the flock like gusts of wind across a wheat field. Krak stood silent, smiling, soaking in the sounds as if each was a cry of adoration for him personally. In the frenzy, three innocent gulls were pecked to death.
I believe that the more confident you are in your beliefs and viewpoints, the more generous you can be with beliefs and viewpoints that differ from your own. Courtesy, kindness, and polite and sincere discourse are possible and vital to the health of any society.
If we keep enforcing the “my religion is better than yours” game—if we keep squashing the religious freedom of another by insisting on the exclusivity of our own—we’re not going to make it.