UP | uncultured project

I don’t like to flaunt my religious beliefs.

With a first name “Shawn”, a family heritage in a predominately Muslim country, and the second in my family to go to a place called “Notre Dame” – I am sure I have left a few people wondering what exactly it is that I believe in.

If you read some of the comments I leave on YouTube – I’m sure it gets even more confusing. When I am responding to someone who makes it clear they are Muslim – I often cite the Qu’ran. When I am responding to someone who references Jesus Christ – I respond by quoting the Bible. When I believe someone is agnostic or atheist – I stick to facts, figures, and keep faith out of the picture.

The reason for this is simple – though our beliefs differ, our goals should be the same: We. Must. End. Poverty.

It also speaks to my belief on how we can achieve peace on Earth. In my opinion, peace on Earth will come when we stop hating what is different among us and start loving what it is we have in common. When we finally do that, I think we will find that we share the same wisdom – though we may find it in different places and from different books.

When your video gets posted to the front page of YouTube – thousands upon thousands of people will be able to see your video. That’s exactly what happened with my latest video. There are a LOT of comments. Over 500 of them and counting. A lot of it was hateful (e.g. racial slurs), personal (e.g. off-color remarks about my family) , and poorly written (e.g. lots of swearing). This is to be expected whenever anyone gets a video featured on YouTube. But, admittedly, this video got a bit more flak than other featured videos.

I think the reason for that is because I touched upon a nerve. I have tried to make all my videos as non-partisan as possible, but in this video I tried to address the issue of some politicians using the Bible selectively to support their policies. Some politicians will quote the Bible verbatim to justify policies in stem cell research, gay marriage, and abortions. But what about fighting poverty?

What about 1 John 3:17? In it says: “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?”. Or what about Ezekiel 16:49? In that it says: “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” Or how about Proverbs 14:31? Where it says: “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”

I’m not saying that religion should or should not enter politics. That’s for a democracy to decide. But, if religion is going to enter politics – which it often does – than it shouldn’t be used selectively or cherry-picked.