Christian de la Huerta

So this guy came to speak at Johnson & Wales on Wednesday evening about religious tolerance and religion. The title of the event was called Beyond Belief and it was true in some sense because Alissa, Jake and I were Beyond Belief that the school had him as a guest speaker. There were about 20 - 25 students that showed up, which did not surprise me, but I think they were expecting more. Christian de la Huerta is a Gay ex catholic, who writes books on bridging homosexuality and spirituality as well as women empowerment.

He started off by talking about Religious Tolerance and what it was and what it wasn't. I agreed with him on that topic. Then he started talking about different religions and started bringing in all these facts, that I am not sure where he got them from. He said things about how Christianity and Catholicism oppresses women and how if we empower women to their fullest we can solve all the world problems. Islam on the other hand is very liberating toward women. He also said how all religions work towards the same end destination and we can get there on our own as well (the end destination being enlightenment). Basically he picks and chooses what he wants to keep from each religion and so he is his own religion. He says that we all have this whole inside of us and we try to fill it with ice cream, music, friends and food etc. But we can't. We can fill it ourselves, we just have to look deep down inside us to our inner-self. He also answered someone's question by saying that the bible has been used for good and bad (meaning the crusades and spanish inquisition) and that it had been changed and twisted so many times. Also, apparently reincarnation used to be in the bible until they took it our a couple centuries ago. This is only a little of what he talked about. There was a bunch of other ridiculous stuff that was said as well.

Alissa and I were just so shocked that the school would bring someone like this to speak. Another thing is there were students in the audience who were there because they were searching for something and I feel like him speaking just added a whole bunch of confusion to their already confused mind. Please pray for those students and Johnson & Wales. If this is a reflection of what the school thinks the students are looking for then it is cause to be very nervous.