My Life, My Religion

Currently, in my English and History classes, we are studying the Islamic Revolution. We have watched the film Persepolis and are currently reading Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, two different works that teach about Islamic culture and the oppressive regime that the people living in Iran during the Revolution faced. We are also using blogs as a means of information about Islam to get perspectives that we may not get elsewhere. However, not all blogs about Islam are purely for educational purposes, as I found when I stumbled across faithfreedom.org. This blog contained different articles, poems, and charts about the Islamic faith that I found highly offensive. For example, there is a chart labeled “differences between Jesus and Muhammad” that makes Muhammad seem like a heartless murderer and Jesus seem flawless. Even being a Christian who worships Jesus, I have a problem with this chart because the author is skewing the story of Islam to make Muhammad seem to be something he is not.

My Beliefs
For many people, religion is a part of who they are and plays a big role in their daily life. People don’t go around questioning why you have brown eyes and two sisters; they just accept that that’s who you are. So why should your religion be any different? Unfortunately, there are people in this world that think that their way is the only right way, and anybody who disagrees or has a conflicting idea is wrong. There are these closed-minded people in every faith, so there is always going to be somebody who disagrees with your beliefs or values. The important thing to remember is that how somebody else feels about your religion doesn’t matter.

My Choice
What’s really important is that you stay true to your beliefs because they are a big part of your identity. Even if you don’t completely agree with every aspect of your own religion, that is something you should recognize and accept. When people say cruel things about the beliefs that make up who you are, such as the author of faithfreedom.org, it is okay to get mad or feel hurt because it is a very personal attack. However, you can’t allow these cruel words to lead you to question your faith because then you are letting other people decide your identity for you. The judgments that others pass about you or your beliefs can be a limitation to your identity that isn’t always easy to overcome, but stay true to yourself because those strongly-spoken people don’t have any authority to tell you what to believe.