There's no such thing as Better only Different

I do not know if anyone has seen the news lately but the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church in a recent speech proclaimed that there is only on true church of god. I bet you can guess which one he picked. This saddens me greatly because it truly amazes me how a man with such influence can make such a damaging statement. There are many religions and philosophies about god and life in this world. Not one is better than the other, not one is preferred by divinity over the others. They are all paths in life, different paths. The simplest analogy I can give is millions of people starting in New York City and they're all going across the country to Los Angeles. They all have the choice and freedom to get to LA however and whenever they want as we do on life. As you can guess there are going to be many paths. Now of all these paths, one might be the fastest, one might be more scenic, one might go through mountains, etc. But, eventually they all end up in LA. Not one is better than the other, just different. To me the Popes statement is take my path because it has more trees and it's better than the rest; Does this make sense to you? Because it really doesn't to me. Now, if you like trees, the popes path is what you might want to take and that would be good for you. But if you preferred rolling plains than that would be your path and it would be right for you. What is the right path for one person might not be the path for another and we need to learn to respect that.

This is not meant to bash the pope, that is not my intent, and if I have offended anyone I offer my deepest and sincerest apologies. At the same time I need to respond because I feel these types of comments are what cause fear and further separate us. I ask those that read this to please do not try to cause any more alienation and separation with the idea that mine is better than yours. Please acknowledge the differences and respect them with the respect that you wish to receive for your beliefs. I'll offer one more analogy; if you had a brother/sister which you loved and cherished greatly. Let's say you were both of a certain religion; as time went on your brother/sister decided to convert to another religion. Would you love them any less? Would they love you any less? I would think not. Then I ask, If you would not lose your love for them, how can the divine, god, Allah, whatever name you wish to use, love them any less? How can the divine who is the essence of love,love your brother or sister any less?


Please remember, There is no such thing as Better only Different. A difference we should acknowledge and respect.



Blessings