Will-o' the Wisp
The last discussion, of sorts, my mother and I had about religion she begged, "Why would you choose to believe any religion other than the one you were raised to believe? Who are you to think you know better than your father, your grandfather (a Lutheran minister), and all the generations before you? Why would you want to go find your own way when the clear answers have been given to you in the Bible; the path is clear, all you need to do is believe."
She's speaking what she KNOWS to be the truth. Absolutism. Here is what you must do to be saved. The one true faith. There are no alternatives.
Ignes fatui. Will-o' the Wisp. "to mislead the mind or judgment of; deceive."
The rest of my family, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, all, follow the Christian faith, Lutherans all. They're all married, with kids, with "normal" homes and "normal" jobs and attend church regularly. It's said that we're a product of our environment, our genetics, our upbringing, our education, our beliefs. We are our programming. These are the things that set the course for who we can become. I could have chosen to follow that faith, but I did not. I could not! I'm also the only one without kids, or anything at all resembling a "normal" home/ work/ lifestyle, and (as far as I know) the only one with a drug problem.
There are no absolutes, nor should there be. Why can't people allow opposites to co-exist simultaneously. What's to fear in allowing different points of view, different ways of living, different interests, different pursuits. Why is that such a threat?