Relgion and Compassion

"There is, I think, a great deal of religious illiteracy around.  People seem to equate religious faith with believing things.  We call religious people "believers" as though that were the main thing that they do.  And very often secondary goals get pushed into the first place in place of compassion, the Golden Rule, because the Golden Rule is difficult.  A lot of religious people prefer to be right rather than compassionate."  Karen Armstrong