When is it not?

"It's not about who's a Christian and who's not."

This is what a friend told me one day when we were talking about our small group of friends. When I heard this I had two thoughts almost immediately. The first was, "Of course not, cause we're all Christians." and then the second hit me, "When is it ever not about who's a Christian and who's not?" So I searched myself for the answer. For one example of just once in my life when everything boiled down to anything other than what people believe. I couldn't even find one case. How could I? What we believe makes us who we are. It dictates our actions and reactions to daily living. For example: A Christian (in theory) would not lie, no matter how convenient it might be or how much easier it would be to deal with a problem. Lieing is not part of their faith or belief system so they would tend not to do so. On the other hand someone that does not have a strong belief in God, or any type of religion for that matter, would not find lieing to be that big of a deal.

So I asked myself, "Why is it that we always run away from talking about anything related to religion or faith?" Why? Cause it's not politically correct. We're all so trapped by what others will think and what's "correct" that we can never be ourselves or really get to know others. We constantly stop the conversations at, "Oh we shouldn't talk about that." or "I'm not trying to change you." or "We can talk about something else.". When did stating what you believe become trying to convert someone else? Why should we even have to state that we're not trying to push our beliefs on others? Shouldn't that just come across in our tone? Shouldn't we be able to speak to people with out being worried about them getting offended or taking it the wrong way. So we're all different and we believe differently, what's the big deal. Why can't we appreciate the differences in each other instead of ignore them. There will always be a difference between Christians and non-Christians but there should never be a difference in the way we treat each other. When did America become the place where the Christians have to hide while everyone else's freedoms are protected. Shouldn't the Christians be just as free? Don't we have the same right to speech and protest and to congregate? Or have things changed so much in this great nation of ours that we can no longer stand up for what we believe in but must watch from the sidelines as all the other beliefs of the world thrive.