Love Thy Neighbor

I'm Catholic, am I a good Catholic, actually no, I consider myself to be a bad one. I believe in God, and I believe that Jesus Christ was his son, but I don't believe or condone most of the things that are in the Bible, or the beliefs that Catholics and other Christians preach. I believe in God in the way that works best for me.

The parts of my religion that I focus on are the Ten Commandments, and Jesus' teachings. For one, how can any person call themselves a Christian, yet forget about one of Jesus' most basic teachings: Love Thy Neighbor?

This... rant, I suppose you could call it comes from a recent issue I was just informed of. The Westboro Baptist Church is protesting the funerals for the people who were killed this week at the assassination attempt of a United States Senator. I don't know all of the details, but what I was told is that the Church is protesting because it "is God's punishment of an idolatrous nation," or perhaps because the girl killed is Catholic and not Baptist.

That is why I bring up the Love Thy Neighbor teachings from Jesus. According to my Religion teacher in Seventh grade (And this was nine years ago, so I might not be completely accurate), Jesus came down to Earth because people's beliefs were, in a sense, wrong. People, supposedly, believed that if you believed in just this way, and did just this, then you would find your way into Heaven. When Jesus came down, he performed miracles, treated everybody equally, showed love to people who were outcasts in society. Whether you believe in God, or Jesus or not, his teachings are things that everybody should and could follow. He taught us to treat everybody equally, love your neighbors and you love the Church (for those Atheists out there, love your neighbors as you love yourself).

So why is it that there are people out there, supposedly preaching the word of God, when all they do is preach hate? How can these people, like the Westboro Baptist Church think that God wants them to picket a nine year old child's funeral because her beliefs are not to the T exactly as theirs? Why is it OK to hate homosexuals, thank God for AIDS, picket an actor's funeral because he played a homosexual in a single movie? And why is it ok to write picket signs that read "Thank God for DEAD soldiers" when these men and women lay down their lives to keep our country safe.

Voltaire said "I do not agre with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," and nobody exemplifies that quote better than the United States military, both past and present. I do not, under any circumstances, support war, but I will always, until the day that I die, support the troops, because they are out there, every day--away from their loved ones--fighting in a war, risking their lives, so that people like me, and my family, and my godchildren, can have a good life, where we can feel safe and secure in our own homes. There are people in this world who do not even have that luxery.

From the time I was old enough to understand my faith, I was taught to love, truly love and respect and accept, those around me who are different. And while I do not agree with everything in the Bible, that is the one thing I will always believe in. Now I will ask anybody who is reading this, who has a heart, and a conscience, please, do not let this hate continue to spread.