Compassion .. a message for all ...

I was raised in a church where we were taught compassion ... where acceptance was taught as one of the main principles of scripture ... where empathy, love and compassion for our enemies, for those of different faiths, or no faith, different cultures, different political views were to be respected, as fellow members of the human race .. we were taught to show love and empathy by example ... and not force our views or scripture on to other people ... we were taught to examine other religions ... we were taught to do this in an academic and respectful manner ... in my confirmation classes we read pieces of the Torah, the Quran, the Aqdas, the
Book of Mormon, books on Wiccan and Pagan beliefs, we were taught about the missing and hidden books of the Bible ... and then we were taught different versions of the Bible ... the way things were worded differently depending on whether you picked up a King James, an NIV .... or one of the hundreds of other versions of the Bible that exist ... we studied the views of atheists ... the views of scientists ... we discussed whether or not we individually felt that science and scripture could coexist ... and we were not judged by our pastor or each other regardless of where we fell on that belief spectrum ... and finally when we finished the confirmation class, it was very clear that it was our choice whether we wanted to confirm our beliefs in that church, in that religion, in those teachings ... two of the sixteen chose not to ... and they were commended for their honesty and their ability to be upfront about how they felt ...

I was taught as a child, in a church that I miss and cannot find an equal to ... that we were to be examples of God's love, God's compassion .... God's empathy ... and in that we were to fight for all humanity to have respect, understanding and compassion .... the message that this organization is putting out there is exactly what I was raised to believe ....

I have compassion for all humanity, empathy for many situations, empathy for all ... I think discrimination of any form is completely uncalled for ... whether based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, occupation, age, economic status, marital status, familial status, disability, culture, weight, height, hairstyle, body art, or any other thing that people find wrong with each other ... we must see ourselves as one united human race ... before anything else ... and only then can this world, this country, this city, begin to exist in a manner of peace and equality ...