True Religion: A Brief Homily

All religions are true. All religions are false. The criterion of true religion is a simple one: if, when faced with the choice to love, to hate, or to be indifferent to another human being, something in the religious tradition that you profess to adhere to persuades you to choose love over the alternatives, your religion, in that moment, is true. In the next moment, should you decide to choose otherwise, your religion, in that next moment, is now false.

The truth or falsity of any religion is the responsibility of its adherents.

If you consider yourself religious, choose wisely. Choose to love.

All the rest: the dogma, the ritual, the poetry, the architecture, the painting, the statuary, the institutions, the bureaucracies--are so much opera and its staging. You are more than welcome to love the opera; but love your neighbor better, and love your neighbor first.