I don’t know about you but there is a bumper sticker I have always liked yet I understand many christian people would not agree with me. It is the coexist bumper sticker.
I do not necessarily agree with all the beliefs of the organizations in coexist, but there is a basic concept that I think we as christians should be showing to the world.
Now there are several institutions that I do not know a lot about that make up the group, and I am sure I do not agree with every concept of all of them. What I do like about the coexist organization is the statement that their mission is to advance social cohesion through education and innovation. That they work at the fault-lines of conflicting cultural identities to strengthen the bond that holds a society together through a sustainable model of people working and learning together. This generates social cohesion that reduces prejudice, hate and violence and prevents conflict from emerging again.
I know many christian people will take this in a way that says anything goes. Whatever you want to believe is fine no matter what and we can all go through life together happy and accepting each other with no consequences. Many will feel that education is the key and if we just learn how each other thinks we can be accepting and get along with no problem.
For me, I agree with some of this way of thinking. We should be able to talk, learn, and get to know others of different ideas, faith, lifestyle and nationalities. We should be able to get along, love and accept people who see things differently.
That does not mean we have to always agree or change our way of thinking just to get along. We can be loving and accepting of others even in our differences.
There are certainly many different ways of thought, many different religious groups, the LGBTQ community, atheists, different nationalities, ethnic groups and on and on. We certainly are not all going to agree with each other.
What I am saying is even though we see things differently and we do not agree on everything we should be able to accept one another in love and respect, accept each other for who we are and get along together in our differences yet keep our personal beliefs and individuality.
Those of us who are following Jesus and consider ourselves christians are called to love God and love others. The others we are to love are not just those who believe, or go to the same religious organization or interpret the bible the same way. Many times it is loving those who most religious people would not take the time to be around. It seems to me this is the way Jesus lived.
I think we can coexist with our fellow humans and still hold to our personal faith and beliefs. Each of us can live our lives in a way we feel is right for us and accept those who feel differently.
Done with Religion 