The sanctity in a different view

CONFLICT has always been there and always will be. So, how are we supposed to coexist in harmony where there is such inherent difference between us?

In an age where there is both not enough and too much tolerance, it is clear we live in a polarised world. It is on the one hand celebrated when we express ground-breaking thoughts and frowned upon on the other. The emergence of the change-the-date campaign is just one example. Same-sex marriage was another. Issues draw out such impassioned debate, and the worst of it is seen on social media. Very quickly we lose sight of who we are dealing with — fellow sacred human beings.

When we are honest we will acknowledge biases in us, each with good rationality that works for us. And yet, such views sharply diverge from others’ views. We can feel part of a united front one moment, and completely alone the next.

Could it be that God is trying to say something in all this through our experience?

Could it be possible that God is saying we are meant to exist here — our time on this planet — to lift others up, and in this case, to affirm others’ personhood even if we do disagree with them?

God does give us the capacity to hold other human beings’ value highly — so highly, as those made in God’s own image, no matter who they are — that their differing views (no matter how abhorrent they might appear to us) are considered to be as sacred as our own. They simply have different biases than we do.

One thing more important than our view is the fact there are always differing views. This is more important for the simple fact that community always trumps individual. This is because individuals only truly prosper when the community prospers.

Community finds itself expressed in the idea that a divergence of views can be held within the collective; that all views matter; where respect for any other person’s view is unequivocal.

Maturity is known in the concept that there is sanctity in views that differ from ours.

Community has hope when people extend love to others without condition.