There was a quote that went viral from the "magician" Penn Jillette, who is a self-proclaimed atheist, but nevertheless rang true. (While I prefer to use quotes from those who share my beliefs, this illustrates how all humans were given reason to help lead them to the truth.) In a nutshell, he said if you truly believe what you do, and if you love me, why wouldn't you try to convert me? If you think your beliefs are true, if you think I'm going to go to hell for my way of life, why wouldn't you try to convince me to change my ways? "What could be more hateful than shutting up?"
Let me present you with a little perspective. There are football fans who faithfully watch every game their team plays. They scream and yell at their TVs, deck themselves out with a complete NFL-approved wardrobe, and spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on gear, memorabilia, tickets. They have a subscription to NFL Magazine. Their walls are covered in team posters, prints, and jerseys. They fly their team's flag in their front yard and have decals and license plate covers on their vehicles. They engage in superstitious rituals to "help the team win" because "it's only weird if it doesn't work." They trash talk other teams and create memes belittling other players. These people are called "die-hard" fans, and it's ok because we all know one...or many...like this. It's so American, you might be considered a terrorist if you suggest they're off their rockers.
Now consider this. A person believes he was placed in this world for the sole purpose of knowing, loving, and serving God. Not to squeeze every enjoyment and pleasure out of life because it's so short, but because it is short, he works that much harder to be good and "go forth and teach all nations" as his God instructed. He donates hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year to his church. He prays morning and night and before every meal (even in public), and crosses himself even as he passes his church and the cemeteries where faithful are buried. He watches religious programs and movies on TV; he listens to recorded sermons. He has religious pictures on the walls of his home, and a flag with a cross flying in his front yard. He wears clothes with religious images on them. There's a rosary on his rear view mirror; his vehicle bears pro-life bumper stickers, and his plate cover is from a rosary crusade. This man never belittles anyone, but talks freely about his faith, and what sin is. Because of all this he is called hateful, judgmental, and a bigot. He's called self-righteous. His home is often victim to vandalism. People whisper about him and suggest he has a mental condition because he's such a religious nut; at least, he's out of touch with reality. Really, who wears a shirt with the image of the Sacred Heart on it?
Why is one socially acceptable and the other not? Truth often frightens people.
Someone I personally know called my wedding "extreme" because it was a Traditional Latin Nuptial Mass. I wonder, had it been a traditional Jewish wedding complete with kabbalat panim, chuppah, and breaking glass, would it still have been considered "extreme"? Or would that have been considered intolerant and anti-semitic? Such is the way the world is.
Many of those "anti-religious-demonstration" people are the same people pushing their beliefs onto society. They want things I believe are sinful to be protected by law and taught in every school. Though, if the proper logic is applied, many of those things oppose basic human rights. Hypocrisy is not a Christian condition, but a human condition.
Many Christians say things like, "Jesus loves everybody. He wants us all to be happy. You're not acting like Jesus when you condemn their lifestyle or choices. You're being hateful." I can only see these opinions as voluntary blindness, as the New Testament itself is full of Christ's condemnations of sin. Christ certainly didn't "let sinners be", but called them to amend their lives and "sin no more".
The truth is that we spend too much time worrying about what other people think of us. "I don't want people to see that I'm religious because they'll say that I'm too Catholic. They'll say that I'm a 'Jesus freak'. They'll say that I'm intolerant. They'll say that I'm a bigot. They'll say that I don't appreciate diversity. They'll call me close-minded. They'll call me too conservative. They'll call me a radical or an extremist. Maybe they just plain won't like me!"
You can call me any name you want. Unless I betray My Lord and say that everything's all right with everything, you're going to call me names anyway. If My Lord can be beaten, and carry the instrument of His death up a hill, and if My Lord can hang on the cross for three hours dying for my sins, and I can't stand here while our culture looks me in the face and calls me names for standing up for my Catholic Faith, then I don't deserve to be called "Catholic".
In years past I've become wrapped up in what feels like hundreds of "debates" regarding faith, mostly on social media. (It has proven for me to be a great way to exercise my "apologetics muscles".) Most recently it was with a Gnostic occultist who believed it was his right to receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church. He said I was "as bad as a Muslim" by saying he could not, but in the end he changed his stance. This is a rarity, of course, as most people will cling firmly to their position when challenged, even when presented with loads of evidence to the contrary. I always come away from these conversations more convinced of the truth in my position, and confused that others can't see it as well.
In the past year or two I have greatly limited my time on social media and the "debates" that I choose to participate in. I mostly leave others controversial Facebook posts alone, even though they may be upsetting or get my heart racing with contrary arguments flying through my head. I've rethought my approach to these situations, having seen too many debates turn ugly, full of childish name-calling and base insults. I have been removed as a friend more times than I can count, though I have never called anyone names and have tried to keep my ends of discussions charitable.
I cannot be silent about my Faith and how I live it, but I've decided that the best way to preach is by example. I'm not going to go door-to-door to sell you my Faith (or page-to-page), but I will live my Faith openly and try to give the best example I can of it. And I will fail, as we all do, countless times. I will not put you down for your beliefs, but if confronted, I'm not going to say it's ok, that it's good that you fight for things that are sinful. There is absolute truth in this world, and that's what needs to be fought for. Not the false ideology that "everybody can choose their own reality." And I do so not from a "soapbox" because I think I'm better, not from hate, because I think you're a bad person, but from genuine care and concern. Because if I believe firmly in what I do, I then believe that sin is only harming you, and I hate sin. Love the sinner, hate the sin. I am a sinner, and it's because of some of the bad decisions I've made that I often feel unworthy of voicing my concerns.
"For those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who don't believe, no explanation will suffice." This quote has been attributed to no less than five different authors, among them St. Thomas Aquinas, Franz Werfel, and Joseph Dunninger. I know it best as one of my Dad's. In the end, people are going to believe what they want to. But maybe, just maybe, living the Faith openly and in the way it was meant to be, will show people that true Christians are not hateful, not spiteful, not close-minded, not power-driven, not money-hungry; but loving, compassionate, and concerned... even when they speak their minds.
The infamous facebook unfriending!
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