Religions Don't Own Compassion; It Is A

Theology Is-- Or Should Be-- A Species Of Poetry,which Read Quickly Or Encountered In A Hubbub Of Noise Makes No Sense. You Have To Open Yourself To A Poem With A Quiet, Receptive Mind, In The Same Way You Might Listen To A Difficult Piece Of Music... If You Seize Upon A Poem And Try To Extort Its Meaning Before You Are Ready, It Remains Opaque. If You Bring Your Own Personal Agenda To Bear Upon It, The Poem Will Close Upon Itself Like A Clam, Because You Have Denied Its Unique And Separate Identity, Its Inviolate Holiness.

Creation Stories Had Never Been Regarded As Historically Accurate; Their Purpose Was Therapeutic. But Once You Start Reading Genesis As Scientifically Valid, You Have Bad Science And Bad Religion.

I Tremble For Our World, Where, In The Smallest Ways, We Find It Impossible, As Marshall Hodgson Enjoined, To Find Room For The Other In Our Minds. If We Cannot Accommodate A Viewpoint In A Friend Without Resorting To Unkindness, How Can We Hope To Heal The Terrible Problems Of Our Planet? I No Longer Think That Any Principle Or Opinion Is Worth Anything If It Makes You Unkind Or Intolerant.

Storytelling Is Fine As Long As You Can Encourage People To Act On The Stories.

I Used To Hate Religion, I Loathed It In My Angry Days.