One topic that most people avoid is politics. The other is religion. Personally, however, I like to discuss both; but since I am not in the mood to write about this country’s supremely flawed political system, I think I will write about religion instead, although I am positive my doing so will probably elicit more than a little hate mail.

Today, I read an article in The Advocate, the paper to which we subscribe. By Julie Kay, a reporter for The Advocate, the article is entitled “Who Preaches Truth? Area preachers find their jobs include facing protests.”

Well, according to Kay, it seems the Consuming Fire Fellowship Church in Woodville, Mississippi takes “great exception” with how the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge promotes the Gospel (p. 1E). As a result, Fellowship has been protesting some of the Unitarian church’s functions. Moreover, although unrelated to the protests by Fellowship, the Unitarian Church has also been the target of several instances of vandalism; for example, a prominent “circle window” was shattered in 2004, and just last year, the church’s electronic message sign was vandalized (p. 5E).

So why do Fellowship and apparently some other people find fault with the Unitarian Church? Well, it seems that the Unitarian Church often becomes involved in political issues (anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was a guest speaker in 2006); supports the gay community (The New Orleans Gay Men’s Choir performed a concert in December 2007); and spreads its message through not only church services but also social functions, events, and activities (Advocate, p. E1, E5).

One thing I have learned during my lifetime is that religion is a funny thing (not funny as in “ha-ha,” but funny as in curious and intriguing), mainly because what should be a force that promotes love, tolerance, good will, and understanding, quite often does just the opposite—promoting hatred, intolerance, ill will, and misunderstanding instead.

But hasn’t this always been the case? Haven’t different religions always nitpicked, quarreled, fought, and even killed one another over things that really shouldn’t matter at all? Don’t the rivers of history flow red with the blood shed over religious disagreement and discord? Haven’t atrocities been committed since time immemorial in the name of God? And for what—because one group doesn’t like how another group chooses to worship the Divine Creator of All Things?

My question is this: does any of it really matter? Does it matter whether we are Baptist, Presbyterian, Jehovah’s Witness, Unitarian, Catholic, Jewish, or Islamic? Does it matter whether we are sprinkled with Holy Water, dunked in a river, immersed in a heated pool, or none of the preceding? Does it matter whether we pray in a church, a synagogue, a mosque, in the middle of the woods, or shut up in a closet? Does it matter whether we take communion every Sunday, once a month, once a year, or not at all? Does it matter what hymns we sing, what music is played, or if there is no singing or music at all?  Does it matter if we handle serpents, speak in tongues, or dance in the aisles? Does it matter what book we consider holy—the King James Bible, the New World Translation of the Holy Bible, the Koran, or the Quran? Does any of that really matter?

What should matter is how we treat our fellow human beings—black, white, red, yellow, or brown; man or woman; gay or straight; old or young; short or tall; fat or thin. How we treat other living creatures. How we treat the earth. After all, doesn't the Bible tells us, “Faith without works is dead.” So, with that in mind, I wish people would quit bickering over what they think God wants (Personally, I have always wondered how anyone could be so presumptuous as to claim he or she knows what an omnipotent, all-powerful divine being wants), and instead go into this world and, each and every day that they breathe, exhibit the tolerance, forgiveness, understanding, and love that is the hallmark of any true faith. Or as my daddy used to say, “If you’re gonna talk the talk, then you’d sure better learn to walk the walk.”