In general, my philosophy is Live and Let Live. I may not agree with you, but you have a right to your beliefs, opinions, and way of life. I'm not going to try to stop you from believing what you believe or living how you want to live (unless your choices directly hurt others, but even then, I may choose not to get involved). Live and Let Live is a decent philosophy because it lets people live and work together despite various differences. We don't all have to have the same political and/or religious beliefs in order for us to work together in the same workspace or study group. As long as we agree not to argue about our disagreements, those disagreements don't have to cause too much friction between us.
However, there's another, much less honorable and much more honest, reason why I find it appealing to embrace the Live and Let Live mentality: It's easy. I don't have to try to persuade people to believe what I believe; I can just sit back and let them believe whatever they want. I don't have to defend or even examine my beliefs; I can just take the non-confrontational stance of simply not arguing about it. I don't have to have tough, deep, soul-searching conversations; I can just pretend that none of it matters enough for it to matter who's right and who's wrong.
The problem is that it does matter. Our religious beliefs matter because our souls and the souls of those we influence hang in the balance. Our political beliefs matter because they help us choose which politicians to support or oppose, which influences the nation's policies and laws. People are suffering and dying, both physically and spiritually, and that matters. It matters enough to make it important to have the kinds of conversations that may help reduce that suffering.
For example, you may have heard that New York recently legalized abortion up to the moment of delivery. By most state's and religion's standards, babies that late in their development are considered living beings with individual rights, including the right to life. By most state's and religion's standards, aborting a child that late in their development is murder. By most state's and religion's standards, New York just legalized a(n admittedly extremely specific) form of murder. Lives and souls will be lost as a result of this policy. I imagine some have already. Those lives could have been saved by a different political policy, and a different political policy would have been supported by a different mayor, and a different mayor would have been elected by voters with different political beliefs. Our beliefs and the beliefs of others have the power to impact countless people's lives.
Normally, I would try to be more reserved on my stance against abortion, and I try to stay on the fence (no pun intended) on issues that I know too little about, such as immigration. But when I know that egregious sins are being committed by people who either don't know or don't care about the suffering those sins cause, I have to do something. I have to say something. I can't just "Live and Let Live," because if I do, others won't. Many people are very vocal about their political and personal beliefs as well as their religious beliefs or lack thereof. More people should be. People should openly share the beliefs that they believe matter, especially when those beliefs, if widely held, could help reduce suffering and save lives. We should all try to do good, and even to win others over to the side of good, even if that means we have to have difficult conversations about our religious and political beliefs.
It's very tempting to just "Live and Let Live," but I can't do that when it means that innocent people will die. I can't just let people kill people. I have to do what I can to stop it. And one thing I can do, one of the few things I can do, is share my personal, political, and religious beliefs.
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