I thought long and hard about writing this post, but I felt that I needed a place to vent some of the emotions I've been feeling over the past two days.
You see, I caused a veritable shitstorm on my Facebook with an old friend, that can now no longer be counted among my friends. I don't want to go into too much detail, but I'm sure that I'll probably spill a good part of the details before all of this is over.
You see, I should have known it was going to happen. I quoted a favorite artist of mine as my status one day. My quote was poking fun at the furor over the Muslim community center that's going to be built a couple of blocks from Ground Zero. Here's the quote that started it all:
"I don't think the anti-mosque people get how far 2 blocks feels in NYC. As in: I never go to that Starbucks because it's two blocks away" --Jonathan Coulton
I posted it because I thought it was funny, and points out something that a lot of people are missing. The community center (because it's not a mosque in reality, but a community center with an area for prayer) is two blocks away, and cannot actually be seen from Ground Zero. Check this link for a map and walking distance breakdown.
Well, my friend made what I felt to be a hate-mongering (and fairly crude) statement comparing the Islam to the KKK.
So I made a comment back.
And he unleashed the hell of his fury on me.
Which in turn riled up my husband, who joined the fray.
And it went downhill from there.
The whole incident has gone on for two days, with him also bringing the "debate" on to his Facebook as well.
We've stopped responding, which I know in his mind means he's won, but in our minds just means that we've decided to stop the childish back and forth.
It breaks my heart though. And it's caused me to really look at myself and some of the things that I've gone through and think. In the interest of ADD, I'll just make a list:
- I think one of the reasons that I have such a hard time with "church" is because of "church people."
- "Church people" ARE NOT the same as Christians!
- You can't spew hate and truly love the people you're maligning. No matter how much you say it's the "sin" you hate.
- There are just some people that can't debate. They can only argue.
- I think I'm more tolerant because I've had the pleasure to meet and become friends with people of various backgrounds.
- I don't think being tolerant is at odds with the Gospel.
- Most "church people" would think I'm going to hell if they really knew what I thought.
Sometimes you just outgrow people.
And sadly, in this world of Facebook, blogs, Twitter and the like, it's hard to leave these people behind.
