What the Car Surfing Challenge Has To Say About Religious Tolerance
This article is also available at https://medium.com/@non-monetized_together/bd9250b20408?source=friends_link&sk=1421604e20ca9291996f98e38a741741.
What goes through your head when you hear religious figures discuss the eternal suffering of sinners? In a worst-case scenario, a follower may feel validation for hating and abusing sinners, who in return, may feel unloved, depressed, and paranoid. Putting someone through extreme torture is as cruel and merciless as it gets, so some people are unable to reconcile it with love or acceptance.
So I came up with an idea for avoiding this worst-case scenario. You can use this idea with your own religion or a religion you’re not a part of, it doesn’t matter. I’m just trying to create peace and harmony between people who are faithful in a religion and people who choose to live a sinful life.
My idea is to view sinners the same way as the world views participants in transparently dangerous Internet challenges like the car surfing challenge. It would be strange to view these people in a vitriolic way. We can love these people as much as we want, but that does nothing to change the fact that these activities can cause huge negative repercussions. These people don’t deserve to die from these challenges, but you can’t say they aren’t asking for it either.