In light of the holiday season, I considered several festive topics to write about this week. I could have written about changes worthy of the title "New Year's Resolution,", or why the lyrics to "Baby It's Cold Outside" perpetuate rape culture. But as the annual discussion of attending the Christmas Eve church service arose among my family, my mind drifted in a different direction. A direction crowded with communion and bursting with crucifixes.

2017 has been dense with debates surrounding politics. The line between the public and private sphere have been blurred, and boundaries have been forgotten. Daily, I am consumed by uncomfortable conversations I never expected to endure. These conversations make my skin crawl not due to their content but because they slither across the dinner table, pry through posts on Twitter, and linger in the air of class discussions. As I find no escape from these topics, the most vexatious topics of them all is faith.

So, rather than let your scowls and raised eyebrows push me into a corner once again, I am willingly breaking the barrier that you all seem to enjoy testing.

Yes, I am both a Liberal and a Christian. But more than that, I am a Liberal because I am a Christian. Should I have given you a trigger warning for that one? Is it that unbelievable that anybody could say this, let alone think it? I know it may be difficult but just try to listen to what I am about to tell you.

I have grown up in a household where religion has had a strong presence but never has it felt overbearing. As a child, I attended VBS and Sunday school. My family prays before each meal and makes a decent effort to attend church regularly. Despite what you may assume, not for a moment have I ever felt like I did not have a choice in my faith. Never have I felt bitter that my parents encouraged a presence of my faith in my life because it is this continuous presence of everything embodied by church that I credit to the establishment of my morals and values.

Questions I have been asked include,

"How is it that you can have progressive views, trust science, but still conform to the ideals of Christianity?"

"How can you call yourself a Christian, but support same-sex marriage?"

But a better question would be, "Why is it that we look down upon those that find value in not judging others, try to see the human in all people, and make decisions based upon what they truly believe to be right?"

I believe each of those to be descriptors of both Liberals and Christians, so I guess it appears they have more in common than we choose to think.

This isn't my sad attempt at persuading you to find God, or a debate of political views. This is a plead for acceptance and understanding. There are bad Christians just as there are bad Liberals. There are bad people everywhere, so stop searching for flaws that exist in us all.

I choose Christianity because in a time where the world seems to be burning around me, and hate pours from every orifice of the earth, I prefer to believe there is something bigger than all of us. I choose to believe in something so I feel capable of getting out of bed in the morning. I choose to believe that among all the evil in the world, good still exists. Maybe there is no God. Maybe God is nothing more than a placebo, but who gives a damn if it is?

Just please, stop judging others for their good intentions.

So, to you, the Liberal, and you, the Christian, doesn't believing you are better than somebody else for ANY reason go against your values? Isn't it a bit hypocritical to point fingers?

I refuse to feel inferior because God acts as my motivation. I refuse to accept an intolerance of any group of people because of my faith. I do not care what you, or the out of context lines from the Bible try to tell me. I will continue to believe in all that is good.

I am a Liberal and a Christian because this life is too hard to not believe in something.