Compassion Is Not A Popular Virtue

Western Liberal Humanism Is Not Something That Comes Naturally To Us: Like An Appreciation Of Art Or Poetry, It Has To Be Cultivated. Humanism Is Itself A Religion Without God-not All Religions, Of Course, Are Theistic. Our Ethical Secular Ideal Has It's Own Disciplines Of Mind And Heart And Gives People The Means Of Finding Faith In The Ultimate Meaning Of Human Life That Were Once Provided By The More Conventional Religions.

Mohammed Was Not An Apparent Failure. He Was A Dazzling Success, Politically As Well As Spiritually, And Islam Went From Strength To Strength To Strength.

Surely It's Better To Love Others, However Messy And Imperfect The Involvement, Than To Allow One's Capacity For Love To Harden.

The More Aggressive Our Ideologies Become, The More Aggressive Our Discourse Whether It's In The United States, From Washington D.c., Or Whether It's From Tehran, Or From Some Underground Al-qaeda Cell. The More Aggressive That Discourse Is, The More People Of Moderate Persuasion Have To Organize And Speak A Voice Of Compassion. That Means To Feel With The Other.

Compassion Is Not An Option. It's The Key To Our Survival.