Getting to Know You

            I don’t know if you heard about this.  According to a study in Canada, people believe atheists have about the same level of trustworthiness as rapists.  A report on this study can be found here.

            There are a lot of things that could be said of this study, including that it shows the danger of falling for false choices and that it shows the dangers of making judgments about people.  That’s not the most important thing about the study to me, though.  The most important thing about the study is that it shows the danger of viewing people as members of groups rather than individuals.

            Are there untrustworthy atheists?  I’m sure there are.  There are also untrustworthy Christians, untrustworthy Jewish people, untrustworthy Muslims, and untrustworthy people in any group you can think of.  There are also trustworthy people in all those groups.

            Looking at people as members of groups, rather than as individuals, leads us to all kinds of problems.  It’s what leads to stereotypes.  You see it in religion:  all Mormons are this, all Muslims are that.  You see it in politics:  all Tea Partiers are this, all Occupy Wall Streeters are that.  You see it with physical characteristics:  all blondes are this, all red-heads are that.  I could go on and on.

            None of these attitudes is helpful, and none of these attitudes strikes me as particularly Christian.  People simply cannot be classified that way.  People do not fit into nice, neat boxes.  God created each one of us to be a unique, special individual with a unique, special purpose.  The fact that we share certain beliefs or attitudes or characteristics does not mean that we are somehow all the same.

            We cannot understand people if we simply look at them as a member of a group.  The only way to understand someone is to get to know that person as an individual.  We need to talk to people.  We need to find out who they are and let them find out who we are.  We need to look beyond the classifications and the boxes and see each person as the unique, special individual God created him or her to be.

            When we do that, we can learn about each other.  When we do that, we can get to know each other.  In fact, when we do that, we can learn to trust each other.  Then, maybe we can actually have an exchange of ideas and learn from each other.  That just might bring us closer to having the world God wants us to have.