Meditation 904
That's not discrimination.
by: JT
To open a discussion on this Meditation, please use the contact page to provide your comments.
There's a rather interesting study about religious discrimination in Canada that's just been released. It looked whether young second-generation Canadians felt discriminated against because of religion.
Interestingly, Muslims felt that they were quite free to practice their religion in Canada; where they encountered discrimination was attributed to race and culture, but not religion.*
On the other hand, evangelical Christians felt discriminated against because of their religion. They felt this was because Christianity was no longer a guiding force in the country. One was reported to have said:
"I can't pull out my Bible, I can't talk about my religion without getting shot down. I don't even mention it for fear of getting a bad reaction."
This exemplifies the problem with evangelical Christianity. They want to run things their way. The laws should reflect their views. They want to be able to pull out their bibles and preach their religion to others without being challenged. And if those others won't let them, well, call it discrimination.
But of course it is not discrimination. Evangelical Christians are as free to quietly practice their religion as Muslims are. But their right to practice their religion does not include a right to force it on others. This is a personal boundaries issue, not a discrimination issue.
The very nature of evangelicalism requires its followers to ignore the boundaries of others. They should not be surprised nor should they whine about discrimination when those whose boundaries were ignored push back.
It is not discrimination to tell evangelical Christians"Get out of my face!"
Note:
* It's interesting and I think a very positive sign that they make this distinction. It is a break from the concept that Islam is a religion that governs every aspect of life.