Fear separates; love unites.

What is it that uplifts, that affirms the dignity of all people? What is it that asserts that all human beings are of equal value, that affirms the axiom that what unites is much stronger than what divides? What you share in common is far stronger than the differences you observe.

There are those who wish to spread fear because in spreading fear, there is a belief that that creates more strength among those whose creed is the dissemination of fear. Fear separates, but love and acceptance unite. Love and acceptance of others reflect what is true throughout all religious beliefs. Every religion has engaged, in one form or another, in acts that divide and do not unite, and yet the basic tenets of those religions try to affirm the connection that believers have with an all-encompassing Presence that may be labeled as God or another term. The basic beliefs are often threatened by the actions that are created around peripheral understandings of those basic tenets.

Every society is generally convinced that its central tenets are indeed worthy of pursuit, even if the means for the pursuit are brought into question. It is therefore not unusual to find nations whose leaders feel convinced and committed to certain causes that are in opposition to the wishes and beliefs of the many. Leaders come and go. Leaders change. Wars are fought, won, and lost, but there is a goodness of the individual that belongs to each culture, and that goodness shares common ground with the spirits of all human beings. It is out of the recognition of that common ground, that balance of value, that leads society in the direction of what it means to be godly, to be good, to ultimately be accepting and nonjudgmental, to be patient, to be committed and yet assured that the goodness that is sought after is indeed achieved.