I think I'm beginning to understand more about religion and beliefs. I've calmed down a lot in my dislike for certain Christians and am really working towards being understanding. I think what bothered me the most was that few practice what they preach and spend the majority of their efforts micromanaging society (Granted, I tend to reside towards the left and am probably slightly clouded in how I view them).
Pope Francis has helped me more than anyone to see that it's not always the case. Sometimes, all it takes is one person to completely change your views and the amazing amount of compassion he has towards everyone just makes me speechless. The fact that he often goes against the flow of traditional views, helped to prevent me from seeing all Christians as insincere and corrupt. Strong words I know, and logically I always knew that they weren't at all like that (In fact, my family is all Christian and I've seen how kind they can be), but still when you're feeling emotionally confused and bitter sometimes you unfairly place labels on an entire group. One could say that I was doing the same thing that I really disliked about them.
Another thing that really help was Anthropology. I absolutely love it and one of the reasons I do is you get to talk about religions from around the world without arguing that your belief is better. You simply say that's what they believe, and recognize that it's valid for them to believe without disagreeing. Obviously, there are a few moral debates. I'm just generalizing here. The other really cool thing is you aren't trying to figure out if God is real, which saves a lot of headaches.
Now I can look at Christians from a more logical viewpoint and understand that they have a very valid reason for believing what they do. I still don't like them forcing their beliefs on others in political discussions and wish a lot of them were more understanding to others (although, again, I recognize that there are quite a few irritating people on the left that can be just as bad or worse)
I think when it comes to my own beliefs, I've become content with keeping it to myself. I'm beginning to realize that the labels I really wanted to put on myself and declare to everyone, really doesn't matter as much as I thought. Honestly, I tend to get along better with everyone when I just act instead of talking about it. If someone asks I have no problem letting them know, other than the fact that they're very flexible which can be confusing to even me.
So, I guess that's progress!
