January 15th is World Religion Day. Religion is a bit of a subject I do not like to discuss, being a liberal Christian in a sea of many conservative Christians is a bit odd. For World Religion Day, I would like to thank the United Church of Christ (my denomination) for raising me with love as one of the most important values. As a child, I was always taught to love everyone, end of story. It did not matter who it was or what their situation was, it was always to spread the word of God through love. Growing up, it confused me watching other Christians reject the LGTB+ community or the poor. Doesn’t that go against loving everyone? Isn’t rejecting others against what I agreed to do when I decided to follow God?

Each summer I attended a church camp (and I now return as a counselor), and one lesson that sticks with me is that each person has an individual, personal relationship with God. As a follower of Christ, it is not up to me to judge another’s relationship, rather I should help anyone who needs help in nurturing their spiritual relationship. It should not matter who you are, who you love, your skin color, your religion, the list continues on. At the end of the day God has given me a job to love you and befriend you and to help you. As my favorite song “Love Cannon” states, “The Gospel in one word is ‘love.’”

I’m proud to be a liberal Christian, because it is what feels right in my heart. While I may not agree with each person’s choice, I agree that you deserve to be loved and you should not be rejected just because of who you are and the choices you have made in life. I cannot allow rejecting others simply for being how God made them to be called Christianity, because it’s not. Our job as Christians is to spread love, not hate. We must be diligent as Christians, we must help to stop racism, to embrace immigrants, protect the environment, to protect ALL of our brothers and sisters regardless of race, sexuality, gender, or religion. Yes, we should love those who don’t even practice our own religion, because it doesn’t matter who you are, God tells us to be open to others regardless. The Disciples weren’t perfect, and neither am I or you. For these next four years, I hope all Christians remember to spread the love of God, to open their hearts to others to help fight injustice to everyone. I pray for all of us, I pray that I keep my heart open to everyone, not just to those who share my beliefs, to those who share my religion, who share my skin color or gender, I pray that our minds are filled with good thoughts. I pray that each of us act with love, and not with hate.