What do you believe in?

Originally Published May 31, 2012

I try my hardest to avoid getting into philosophical and religious arguments.  Mostly because they’re always based on a person’s beliefs.  And the odds of ever changing someone’s point of view on such subjects are almost impossible.  I have a few devoutly religious friends and family whose faith cannot be shaken.  Conversely, I have a few friends who are absolutely, without a doubt atheist.  Nothing will convince them there’s a higher power. 

Again, I avoid conversations with them about these subjects simply because it will come down to a matter of agreeing to disagree.  Do I personally believe there’s a higher power?  Yes, I do.  But I don’t belong to any one religion or practice my faith following any sort of guidelines set forth by a church.  Again, that’s me. 

I personally can’t imagine having such an unshakable faith in a higher calling so as to lay down my life for it.  But yet, it happens every day around the world.  The war on terror, is viewed as a jihad by our enemies because of their own unshakable faith in their higher power.  They don’t see a problem giving their lives to defend their beliefs.  It’s their holy war.  But, we’ve seen holy wars throughout our history.  The Crusades, the Inquisition and until the war on terror, we saw it as recently as the 20th century.  La Cristiada. 

For anyone who doesn’t follow Mexican history, and that would be most of us, it was a second revolutionary war in Mexico in the late 1920s.  It got pretty gruesome, government troops openly murdering anyone practicing Catholicism.  Yes, women, children and unarmed priests.  Do some Google searches if you want but don’t say I didn’t warn you.  Barbaric. 

So, with that in mind, a very young Agapito Verdin took up arms in the revolution fighting for the church.  He became a Cristero.  This young man risked his life fighting against an oppressive government to maintain his freedom of religion.  This young man would eventually become my grandfather.