Compassion Doesn't, Of Course, Mean Feeling Sorry

Ever Since The Crusades, When Christians From Western Europe Were Fighting Holy Wars Against Muslims In The Near East, Western People Have Often Perceived Islam As A Violent And Intolerant Faith - Even Though When This Prejudice Took Root Islam Had A Better Record Of Tolerance Than Christianity.

Every Fundamentalist Movement I've Studied In Judaism, Christianity And Islam Is Convinced At Some Gut, Visceral Level That Secular Liberal Society Wants To Wipe Out Religion.

The Early Doctrines Of The Church, Even Doctrines Like Trinity And Incarnation Were Originally Also Calls For Action, Calls For Selflessness, Calls For Compassion, And Unless You Live That Out Compassionately, Selflessly, You Didn't Understand What The Doctrine Was Saying.

Compassion Has Been Advocated By All The Great Faiths Because It Has Been Found To Be The Safest And Surest Means Of Attaining Enlightenment. It Dethrones The Ego From The Center Of Our Lives And Puts Others There, Breaking Down The Carapace Of The Selfishness That Holds Us Back From An Experience Of The Sacred. And It Gives Us Ecstasy, Broadening Our Perspectives And Giving Us A Larger, Enhanced Vision.

He Was Decisive And Wholehearted In Everything He Did, So Intent On The Task At Hand That He Never Looked Over His Shoulder, Even If His Cloak Got Caught In A Thorny Bush. When He Did Turn To Speak To Somebody, He Used To Swing His Entire Body And Address Him Full Face. When He Shook Hands, He Was Never The First To Withdraw His Own. He Inspired Such Confidence That He Was Known As Al-amin, The Reliable One.