RELIGION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.

I am very interested in social justice and applying my faith. I think that it is very important for everyone, religious or spiritual or not, to act on his or her personal beliefs to make positive change. In my opinion, religious people should be inclusive, accepting everyone in and out of the church. It really bothers me when religious people condemn lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered people or when Bible verses are used to justify judgment of others. Also, many people attend church services regularly and consider themselves very religious, but the moment they walk out onto the street away from the sanctuary, they seem to forget this and insult or judge others. I also believe that every person of faith should strive to live his or her faith as a loving and inclusive person -- it annoys me when people seem to be single-minded in converting others. We can deepen our faith by listening to and learning from others and finding commonalities across faiths and with those who choose not to practice a religion or who have created their own religion. There are many positive aspects of faith that I appreciate, including the ability to promote social justice and to feel a sense of purpose in life.

I may add more thoughts later, but for now there are links below.

• link to information about the PBS video Affluenza , which deals with the realities of materialism and introduces strategies for simple living
• link to The Anti-Defamation League
• link to Bread for the World
• link to Catholic Charities
• link to The Children's Defense Fund
• link to Church Women United
• link to Church World Service
• link to Equal Partners in Faith
• link to The Heifer Project
• link to The More Light Presbyterian Network which affirms and embraces lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people
• link to nonviolence resources
• links to LGBT-friendly groups from many religious denominations
• link to One Great Hour of Sharing
• link to The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
• link to information about religious tolerance
• link to The Simon Wiesenthal Center
• link to alternatives for Simple Living
• link tomore interfaith peace and justice sites

  ways you can help right away

  Quick Donations
  this comprehensive site allows you to donate to a wide variety of meaningful causes (such as hunger, homelesness, HIV, or gay rights) with a simple click of your mouse at no charge to you -- if you only go to one site in this section on my page, visit this one because it has many links to various organizations

• link to The Hunger Site -- visit the site to donate free food
• take steps to end homelessness by visiting this page and making a donation
• link to 20/20 Vision, which provides suggestions for spending 20 minutes a month to promote justice
• start your own service project or try to do at least one positive or socially aware thing each day -- Ħit WILL make a difference!

  elsewhere on my page

• visit my sexual orientation and religion page
• visit my spiritual and religious quote page
• visit my Simpsons quote page and check out the funny religious references

Thanks for stopping by! E-mail me if you have any questions and visit again soon. Have a great day! =)

<

Get your own Free Home Page