Exclusivity?

Why do we exclude?

One of my biggest complaints about religion nowadays is how exclusive it has become.  And in being exclusive, it becomes intolerant.  Wasn’t the entire point of the formation of these religious organizations to provide a place of INclusion?  Wasn’t this supposed to be about bringing together a community of people with a similar set of ideas/beliefs and dare I say values?

So when did these organizations decide to become the oppressors?   When did they decide that it was better to EXclude than to INclude?  When did they decide their ideas/beliefs/values made them any more ‘moral’ or ‘spiritual’ than anyone else?  And when did they decide that ‘god’ will choose only 1 people?

I begin with a basic premise here – WE ARE ALL ONE.  If energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it just changes form – then logically, WE ARE ALL ONE.  And no matter what the source of that energy is – be it ‘God’, or ‘The Powers that Be’ or ‘The Creator’ or ‘The Flying Spaghetti Monster’ or ‘The Universe’ or ‘Nothing’ or WHATEVER – if it all comes from the same source, then it all returns there as well – and thus WE ARE ALL ONE.

So IF my premise is correct – and I postulate that it is – then if we are all one, WHY EXCLUDE?  I mean, seriously, even if our communities are different and our ideas are different and even our values are different – is there NOT room for EVERYONE?  As overcrowded as this planet is – room is STILL available for all of us in our own ways.  At least as far as I am concerned.

And yet we are SO GOOD at excluding others.  Take, for example, gay marriage.  WHY is this an issue?  If two people love one another – why shouldn’t they be allowed to marry?  I don’t care if your ‘religion’ or ‘morality’ disagrees – if YOU are against it – DON’T DO IT.  But what gives you ANY RIGHT AT ALL to tell others THEY cannot?  You are welcome to your own opinion – but I fail to see what gives you any right at all to impose YOUR way on others.  What/who do you think gives you to the right to exclude anyone else?

I am, generally, liberal, when it comes to politics.  HOWEVER – I do not agree with either party exclusively, because they are both TERRIBLY EXCLUSIONARY.  The parties want it done THEIR way, or else it is WRONG.  And both fight to be exclusive of one another – and in that fight, NOTHING is getting done.  Oh, and in the growing practices of exclusion, less and less useful stuff is happening, and our government is doing a fine job of working on collapsing.  Exclude exclude exclude – and hey, what do you have left?  Think about it.  If all you do is exclude this and that and the other thing – what’s left for you to INCLUDE.  And as the INCLUSION of things brings things together, does it not go to follow that the inclusion of more things is far better than the exclusion of more?  If we are more included than excluded – doesn’t that seem like a better effect in most cases?  (I grant you there are times its better to be excluded from some things – but more often than not, I think the opposite is true.)

Censorship – oooooooooh, careful what you say, careful what you show, and let’s protect the children!  Ok, fine, I am all for REASON on this topic – but reason means you don’t BAN everything, you EDUCATE.  Use that grey matter between your ears, and LEARN and TEACH and try a little KNOWLEDGE.  If you don’t like that book – don’t read it.  Don’t like the art – don’t view it.  Don’t like that movie – don’t see it.  And if you want to protect your children FROM said book/art/movie, do it intelligently.  Give me a warning label, make me aware that this may not be suitable for some people – and let me MAKE MY OWN DECISION.  That would involve INclusion, again, rather than EXclusion, my friends.

So again, I have to ask – why do we EXCLUDE?  Am I crazy for thinking that maybe if we worked harder to INCLUDE one another in our lives, rather than EXCLUDE each other, the world might just be a better, happier, more peaceful place?