Why can't people understand?

That not everyone has to be the SAME?

I was reading someone's blog this morning (the author and blog shall remain anonymous for various reasons) and found this (the author recently went on a trip to China and is now posting her journal entries online):

[Our tour guide] "said only 3-4% of the Chinese people have a belief system and that most are aetheist like her. A sad statistic. They follow systems of conduct like confuscianism. I can see why so many organizations are trying to send missionaries here... though these people do not seem hopeless... maybe some realize it. [I saw one church during my whole stay in China, and it was in Shanghai. I find is so utterly odd that they have so many supersitions and they believe in evil spirits and luck and things like that, but they do not believe in a god. Who made up all of their superstitions? Do they not understand how stupid it is? At least, I found it to be stupid. It IS neat and the superstitions are so old... but they are just that... I dont believe that wearing a red shirt will give me luck or that spending money on new years will mean bad fortune and lots of spending for the rest of the year. Its just silly.]"

Why are people so ignorant? It makes me really mad. When you hear that most Chinese people do not have an organized belief system, they are referring to the big monotheistic religions: very few (comparatively) are Christian or Muslim or Jewish. MANY are Buddhist or Taoist or simply are Chinese, which consists of a nice mix of a lot of stuff, including Confucianism. They believe in the existence of multiple gods -- many were Buddhist in origin but have been updated and adapted to Chinese culture -- such as Guanyin. She only saw one church, in Shanghai -- HOW MANY TEMPLES DID SHE SEE? Is it possible that a temple is the Chinese version of a church? Why is a church the only legitimate house of worship?

Some have pointed to the Chinese practice of "ancestor worship" as a weird practice. Personally, I hate that term; when used in that way, "worship" sounds so derogatory, like in the term "devil worship." Seriously -- what positive two-word phrases can you think of that use the word "worship"? No one refers to "Jesus worship" as a practice. Anyway, it's not ancestor worship -- it's paying your respects and honoring those who gave you life. You remember your ancestors and hope they are watching over you from the afterlife. It stems from the traditional large, unified Chinese family system. Sure, you give your dead ancestors food and wine to keep them happy, but this is just symbolic. Is it any more crazy from an onlooker's standpoint than EATING "the body and blood of Christ"? I think not. If you were dead and were going to be remembered, would you rather be given food as an offering or be eaten in effigy? Which sounds more respectful, really?

And as for superstitions, these may be slightly more pervasive in Chinese culture than American superstitions are in America, but I don't think they're stupid or crazy -- at least, no more so than American ones. If you stop calling them "superstitions," then maybe you won't think of them as stupid. Call them "traditions" instead, and you might see them in a positive light. Yes, the Chinese think red is lucky. Is that any stranger than American brides wearing white on their wedding day? They think the number four is unlucky (because it is the same sound as the word for "death") so they often don't have a fourth floor of buildings -- here, the number 13 is unlucky (can anyone tell me WHY? At least the Chinese have a reason!) and some buildings don't have a 13th floor. There, the number 8 is lucky (because it rhymes with "making money"), and here, it's the number 7 (again, can anyone tell me why?). IT'S THE SAME THING! Why are Westerners afraid of black cats or walking under ladders? The black cats I can't explain, but walking under ladders just makes sense in terms of your safety -- and likewise, many of the Chinese superstitions just make sense. Why should you return home at New Year's? The same reason people return home for Thanksgiving -- it's a family holiday, and it's important to keep your family ties strong even if you don't live nearby anymore. Why do we eat turkey at Thanksgiving? No clue. Is it so strange that the Chinese DO have reasons for eating certain foods (for example, a whole fish represents good fortune -- because traditionally, you'd have to be pretty fortunate to be able to afford a whole fish, rather than just leftover bits, right?)? If you ask me, Chinese customs are much less "stupid" than American ones, since they have logical explanations.

They do their yearly big house cleaning right before New Years; we do ours in the spring. There are so many parallels between the two cultures, yet in America we call them "traditions" or "customs," but we refer to the Chinese ones as "superstitions." Give me a break and get off your high horse.

And do not even get me started on the missionary comment. If you think that people have to believe in YOUR god to be right in this world, I really want nothing to do with you. How do you think a civilization survived thousands of years without YOUR god if it wasn't doing SOMETHING right? Did you ever think that if our society tried to create positive change by focusing on building strong families, we might get somewhere? Why does positive change have to come from sitting in a church praying to a single god? Who the hell do you think you are, anyway?

I'm so mad, I can't even think about this anymore. This isn't really directed at the blog author. It's more directed at everyone who thinks this way. People live in their small little worlds and have no clue about the huge world surrounding them. People don't have to be Christian to be good people. They just need to be good people to be good people. I'd rather follow a good "system of conduct" than an organized religion. I wonder what percentage of Americans have an organized belief system? It's probably a majority, but does that mean this is a country full of wonderful people. Far from it, let me tell you.