*pulling out my own soap-box*

Well, as one of the generally very silent minority (as a non-believer, I've
more than once discerned the tar and feathers at the ready), I must agree
with both of you, at least in practice if not underlying principle.  I fail
to see how true tolerance and compassion for differing beliefs can be a
fact of life as opposed to one of those 'do as I prescribe, not as I do'
platitudes, when far too many people seem to believe that their way is the
RIGHT way and the ONLY way.  Far too many trot out the symbols of their
particular belief, and expect them to be more sanctified than the generally
more compassionate and understanding teachings promulgated at the core of
their religion.

Well I remember, as a very young and impressionable child, being told that
my parents were doomed to hell because they weren't Catholics, and the only
hope for my own soul was to become a Catholic.  I don't recall any of the
elders in Mother's Friends Meeting issuing such a condemnation, but then
Quakers are rather special in some ways....  That left a durable
impression - that regardless of the basis for a sect (ok, I'll admit that
some of the splinter groups can be a bit extreme at base), far too often
the focus was on building parishioner counts and  bank deposits than
actually worrying about people's souls, as it were.

Were we, as a people, to put individual conscience and responsibility at
the fore, and not carefully garb ourselves and our fellow citizens in a
plethora of religious symbols/labels/stereotypes, I am confident that we
would increase our resilience as a people, better able to adjust to the
changes nearly any future view presents.

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