The other day in class we were reading "The Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, and it was the scene where the Mama is talking to Beneatha about God, and Beneatha sees no reason to praise him for her hard works. During this scene, a girl in my class scoffs at the grandmother’s remarks about the importance of the Bible and having faith in God. Even though I live in the Bible Belt, I find myself seeing a lot of people mocking the Bible. Back in middle school, a girl randomly stated that the Bible was stupid during lunch. All throughout middle and high school, people discuss how idiotic it is to believe in God. I’m not here to push religion on anyone, but there is a time and a place to mock the Bible and that time and place is never.

I understand that Christianity is viewed as the “bad guys of religion” because it as seen as the major oppressors of the other religions or lack of. The majority does not equal evil. As a Christian who is not prejudiced, I am tired of being treated like I am. I understand that it is harder for minority groups to shake off bad stereotypes and misrepresentation, however, I am not trying to undermine their struggles. I just think there needs to be a level of respect when it comes to all religions.

Just because you may not agree with everything a group believes it does not give you free rein to insult them. To me, if someone has a logical explanation on why they believe something, I respect it, especially when it comes to religion. If you are raised into something and grew up rightfully and fully believing in it, who am I to try and take away of insult a part of you and your culture? Since religion is intertwined in one’s culture, you cannot expect anyone to compromise their beliefs.

Also, I hate to say it, but not all Christians, not all Muslims, not all atheists, and so on. Unfortunately, we cannot all agree on all parts of all religion (or lack of). Unfortunately, some groups' views are used as excuses to hurt other groups of people. Unfortunately, this can lead to stereotypes for both sides of this issue.

All Christians are not prejudiced conservatives who don't believe in science. All Muslims are notterrorists who oppress women. All atheists are notpretentious or annoying people, scoffing at religion. Whenever any of these stereotypes are enforced, it puts a wedge between us – not us as different religions or lack of but us as people.

The beauty of humans is that no two are alike, no matter what background or culture. This allows us to learn and experience so much more than we would if everyone was alike and agreed on everything. These differences and disagreements create a beautiful diverse world, in which the only flaw is that the beautiful diverse people in it have not learned to tolerate others. I use the word "tolerate" specifically, because we do not need to all hold hands and sing kumbaya, but we shouldn’t hate each other. We just need to live in harmony, recognizing and respecting all our variances.