Monday, January 4, 2016

Tolerance: Catholic Mass

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We're nick-named Mormons for brevity.

For two years of my life, I lived in Arizona and Jamaica, teaching people about my beliefs and inviting them to come to my church to learn more. I would even occasionally go to other people's churches to see how they worshiped.

When my brother-in-law invited me to go with him to a Catholic mass on Christmas Eve, I jumped at the chance.


Now, based on my experiences, Catholicism is a pretty maligned religion. Despite the age of the feud between protestants and Catholics, I've found that many protestants have a hard time letting go of the prejudice they feel against Catholicism. I've heard many individuals criticize Catholics and their faith. I've even heard people claim that Catholics aren't Christian at all.

Well, that last one is just ridiculous. One look at the Stations of the Cross convinced me to their Christianity.

And you know, I'll be honest. I don't subscribe to every tenet of the Catholic faith. I don't believe everything they teach. But by golly, Catholics are good people. As I sat in their worship service, I felt their love and devotion for the Savior. I felt their happiness and joy. I felt their sincerity.

I propose that all hatred and judgement could be eliminated from the world if we, as a human race, sought to understand points of view other than our own.

How often do you criticize a group of people before seeing how they conduct themselves?

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