We Shouldn't Be Afraid to Talk about Religion

1. Transcript (see video below)

(At 4:18 minutes): Something particularly special that came from my website (IFTeens.org) was my connection with people of the Baha'i Faith. Now I've never practised the Baha'i Faith before, but after I had received a video from one of their teens explaining his beliefs, they contacted me again and they asked me if I would like to help teach children Sunday classes at their temple, the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, and so I took this opportunity - again never having practised this religion before but I was there helping to facilitate it where they were teaching children about Baha'i principles, and I developed such a great relationship with these children. They saw me as their friend - someone who wanted to help them learn more about their religion.

By reaching out to teens from my website, I've realized that they're genuinely excited to submit and share a part of themselves that they don't discuss. Here I was asking them to share something so valuable and personal to them and their excitement showed me their appreciation for my genuine curiosity. In my view, the knowledge of religion is essential to the human condition regardless of if an individual is practising or not. Elements of religion, faith, spirituality or the preference to not practise are essential to the human ethos and are central in shaping society, history and the subconscious and conscious decisions that we make and our leaders make as individuals.

I know it's hard to discuss religion because of how complex it is and it can be considered taboo among society, but it doesn't have to be that way. Comprehending such a profound concept just requires attentiveness and an open mind. Now are you going to learn everything about religion just based off of a conversation. No, but by putting yourself out there and having those conversations with people will definitely set you on the right track, and if we can all have this mentality then we are on our way to having a more loving and accepting society, and this will allow - this interfaith harmony will allow us to live together much better.

2. Video (starting at 4:17)