ShmoopTube

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Acceptance of Religions... a la Shmoop.

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Earth.

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You’ve…probably seen this thing before. [Earth in space]

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A giant, floating rock in the middle of a vast and empty space. That's all it is, really...

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Well, except for the fact that it's the host of all known life in the universe. And, more [Lots of people in a busy area]

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importantly…as far as we're concerned, at least… human life.

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You might think that humans…conscious, aware, intelligent beings capable of language, rationality,

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empathy, and so much more…. [Three people stood in a field]

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…would be wise enough to set aside their differences and get along.

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I mean, come on, we’re not dim-witted sloths. [Sloth eating a leaf upside down]

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Sorry, sloths. Take a look at this.

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And this.

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Aaand this.

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And…all these, too.

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Yep. Maybe we didn’t give the sloths enough credit.

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Death, torture and abuse have been around for a long time... and much of it because [People in a room in ancient times]

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of a few minor differences in religious beliefs.

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Which is pretty funny, because all of these different religions… [An empty church room]

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…Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, The Church of the Flying Spaghetti [Different religious symbols appear in the Church room]

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Monster, and whatever else folks believe in...

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…ultimately, they're all pretty much the same thing or very very similar. When it comes down to it, they’re all just

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about looking for answers on this floating rock of ours. [Earth floating in space]

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Who are we? How did we get here? What’s the meaning of life?

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What would we do for a Klondike Bar?

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Actually…we don't want to talk about that. [Man in a bear costume sat on the floor]

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We've done a lot for a Klondike Bar and we're not proud of it.

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But uh…back to the religion thing.

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Far too often, people spend more time focusing on other’s differences than on their similarities.

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And the tiniest little comment about one of those differences...

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…can contribute to something much bigger…and much more devastating…than might have been intended. [People protesting in Palestine]

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So even if you just wanted to impress your friends with your “hilarious” quip about

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someone else's religion… [Man telling a joke about religion and girl looks unimpressed]

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…and please note the sarcasm….

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…you're only adding fuel to the fire… encouraging the world to be rooted in hate

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and intolerance, rather than reaching toward acceptance and brotherhood. [A huge pile of rubble]

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And… what kind of a world would that be?

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Oh, wait…

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It's, uh… kind of the world we're in now.

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Man…looks like we’re not the only ones who [Man points gun at employee of ice cream store]

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would do some messed up things for a Klondike Bar…

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