When I went on Twitter this morning, I expected my timeline to be flooded with Christmas posts, and they were there. However, what I was not expecting was how many tweets there were bashing the holiday: tweets from people of other faiths, who do not believe in saying “Merry Christmas” because of their different religious beliefs. Although I am not even Christian, the fact that people are so quick to look down on a religion or tradition that is different from their own bothers me.
This doesn’t only happen with Christmas, but with any religious holiday, whether it is Eid, Hanukkah or Diwali. There is always someone, a person who believes in another religion, who will not rest until they have insulted yours.
It is alright to not agree with someone else’s faith, but it is definitely not okay to try to shove your own beliefs down their throat. It is amazing to me how many people there are out there who spend so much time just to try to prove others wrong for their different faith or culture.
Allowing someone else to peacefully celebrate their holidays or practice their faith should not bother you in any way; someone having different views than yours should not be something that upsets you as long as they are respectful of yours and vice versa.
I was raised to be tolerant and respectful of others and their beliefs, and to this day, I follow that. Saying “Merry Christmas” or “Eid Mubarak” to someone else, even if I don’t follow the same religion as them, does not hurt me in any way. It just makes me a person who understands that there are many different faiths out there.
There are many, many others out there like me, others who understand that there is so much diversity when it comes to religion, that it is important to be inclusive of them. However, it is the few intolerant people out there who make everyone look bad. They are the ones who make the rest of us, the rest of us who follow their religion, seem like we are just as prejudiced towards other faiths. I refuse to side with someone who does not know how to show basic respect for others. At the end of the day, we’re all human, regardless of religion, and that should be enough of a reason to treat others kindly.
So, this holiday season, to all of you who bash the views of others: suck it up. We have billions of people on this planet, and everyone’s beliefs differ. Not everyone is exactly like you, nor do they have to be. Either be tolerant of others and be kind, or if you have nothing nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.
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