Unfriendly Friend

I was talking to a friend I've known for years, since we were young teenagers, about religion. Now neither of us were overtly religious, nor made to go to services, from the time we met; but this person has always had a side she defines as 'spiritual' and recently has explored it more.

According to her, I'm not knowledgeable about religion because I am "a crazy Mormon", even though I never had a personal testimony and was involved with the Catholic church for years, even going to a Catholic school. I've also researched many different faiths, both in school and for leisure.

I think what it often comes down to is that if you are not a True Believer you have no idea about the essence of faith. I see it as (at least to an extent) a social construct, with many political, racial, classist, gendered and heteronomative aspects. It's so easy to say "It's true and right because I believe it" without thinking about how the institution you back affects yourself and others.


There was more that I wanted to say, but wanting to forget the incident, I didn't write anything down or even contemplate about it until a couple days after the fact.