I came to shed a little light on this darkening scene....

Good GOOD FRIDAY morning,
Because we are in a "holy" season right now, I thought it would be appropriate to comment on the state of holiness and Holier than thou-ness.
I try really hard to not be "holy than thou" about things in life. the older I have gotten, the easier this state of mind and action has been to achieve - I will be honest in saying that my current state of openness and non-judgment has not always been the case. In fact there is a young man in my Humanities class that always chooses the side of opposition in a discussion (on any given topic - doesn't matter the material) just simply to be oppositional. He reminds me a lot of my former, younger, less wise self.
With that said, I am Catholic. Made all the sacraments too. We are currently in the remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice and crucifixion for the sake of saving the world from sin. I love Jesus, no doubt.
However, now that I am more educated, I also KNOW that a lot of the Christian religion (all denominations) has been constructed throughout thousands of years by politics, power and land conquering and absorption. That is just factual.
Jesus was a real man, this is also fact.
Maybe he was a delusional schizophrenic who believed he was the son of God and if born today would be on Thorazine in a mental institution, labeled unsafe for the masses.
Maybe, he was in fact the son of God and sent by his Holy Father to save us from our sins.
My personal belief, is that Jesus Christ was a courageous man with a message of love, and a conviction to be true to his ideals regardless of consequences.
If only there were more like him, sigh.
I not only respect Jesus Christ for his beliefs, I keep him in mind sometimes as I set out to do bad - WWJD?
BUT, with that said, I have learned through my education and my own personal growth that Jesus is not the only way.
I studied a ton of world religions this semester and found that ALL of them had bits and pieces I would consider worship-able, some of them more than other no doubt, but the amazing thing is that all RELIGIONS ultimately strive for humanity to evolve to a higher level of self awareness, understanding and compassion.
Compassion would be key here for me and also inclusion. These two facets of religion are the most important in my view.
Compassion, well duh.
Inclusion, well because regardless of whether you believe in the Holy Trinity, Buddha or Allah - we are ALL HUMAN and therefore free to believe in whatever deity we so choose.
The reason I am commenting on religion at all, is because I see an anti-Muslim sentiment around me that I find displeasing and sad.
What cracks me up is that most people who have this anti-Muslim ideal, don't realize that Judaism, Christianity and the Muslim faith are off- shoots of each other and literally fit together like puzzle pieces. Although they differ in many ways, they are ultimately co-operative belief sets that differ at all based mostly on ethnicity and origin of Birth and oh let's not forget colonialism...
Muslim worshipers have the most unbelievably devout mindset that it makes me as a Catholic look like a slacker.
Did you know that as a self proclaimed Muslim, you make a vow to travel to Mecca at least once in your life to make the holy pilgrimage? Millions of people do this every year.
Did you know that Buddhists believe that Nirvana is in all of us already and that all you need to do to attain it, or find "your face before you were born" is to find that perfect state of emptiness within yourself - and by empty they mean no judgment, no conditioning, no pretty purses or computers...
INCLUSION people, inclusion.
We are humans. We are therefore, all brothers and sisters and brothers and sisters should never shun or shut out one of their own.
Now, I will say that I understand that MUSLIM and TERRORIST are synonymous for a lot of Americans, but this idea is also not okay for me, and shouldn't be for you as an American.
Terrorists are Terrorists and religion has nothing to do with it at all. Plenty of Christians kill Christians, hell Plenty of Christians killed million of Jews.
Terrorism is TERROR.
I also understand that the freak shows who flew the planes into the World Trade Centers were praying to Allah in the seconds before they turned to dust.To that I say, well of course they were - I'd probably resort to Our Father's and Hail Mary's too, seconds before my life materialized into nothing but a wasted purpose.
The people who attacked our Country and killed our citizens in the name of Allah were not making a religious statement with their actions they were making a political statement and happened to use 'their' God to hide behind.
This is no new concept throughout history and certainly shouldn't be credited to the Muslim's as the originator.
Terrorism is what our country was founded on if you really want to get technical, just ask any Native American Indian living on a "reserve" situated by a nuclear waste site, they'll tell you - Christian settlers sure did a number on their indigenous people, I believe in numbers upwards of TWO MILLION.
So, my point is this.
Let's celebrate Easter (if you do) being mindful that the reason we celebrate it now (in April) is because it fit nicely into the already PAGAN spring festival hence the bunny (fertility) and the other 'traditional' Springy things that have nothing to do with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let's be really mindful that before Jesus there were religions as far back as the appearance of Human's and that ultimately what every religion has had in common, is being the best human being we can be.
We must stop hating, judging, segregating and perpetuating a cycle of inhumanity that will do absolutely nothing but give people reason to become terrorists because why not, hate reigns supreme....
We are different and if you believe in God, and follow Christianity, then you know we are all created in God's likeness - you don't have to be Aquinas or Descartes to figure out that if you BELIEVE that, than YOU MUST BELIEVE we are all created in perfection, done deal nothing more to consider - Just be.
May you ALL be well...