I am hoping I have adequate words to express my views. Out of respect, I am posting this on my own wall because although it is in response to a recent posts it is applicable to others.

To start, not everyone that believes in the Bible is a bigoted person and not every bigot believes in the Bible or God for that matter. I find myself more and more these days being insulted by people who may not even know they are tramping on my beliefs and they do not really know what my beliefs are. They have only lumped me into a group of people that have nothing in common with me.

Most Christians I know are loving, compassionate, caring people who serve quietly in the background.

Secondly, not all liberals are what they are painted to be, and not all conservatives are either. Not all successful people are greedy and not all the poor are lazy.

Recently someone in my group of aquaintences was lamenting that the new pope was just another white man that was going to oppress all those poor Catholic women. This person was neither Catholic or a Christian. When I suggested that the Catholics might not feel that way, I was enlightened with that persons view of the world.

Why are  we as a people are so polarized?  There is no human or group that I agree with completely. I have believing friends that I have vastly different political views,  but they seem not to understand that when they call conservatives idiots, they are lumping part of me into that characterization as well. We as a nation have different views, many of us come from different cultures and backgrounds, when we stand “firmly right” on our side, we leave no room to find the things we have in common that can bring us together.

The respect for each others views has been lost in the political battleground to be right.

Please stop categorizing people in groups and just reach out and get to know people for who they are and what they believe. Have discussions about differences with respectful speech and accepting hearts.