Thank you so much for reading and for your comments. I am so sorry for people who say or have said anyone else was “lesser.’’ I can’t speak for individuals or other faiths but do know the Catholic Church teaches we are all children of God, created in God’s image for a special reason and purpose. Jesus and the Church also call on us to love others, even our enemies.
As St. John Paul the Great said, “The human being is single, unique, and unrepeatable, someone thought of and chosen from eternity, someone called and identified by name.”
John Paul’s teachings about the Culture of Life go on to say that we all matter, we are all important and all here for a reason. He was a college student when Nazi Germany and the communist Soviet Union invaded Poland so he learned a LOT about the way men dehumanize each other. I wrote more about that here:
Yes, the Church (including Pope Francis) also teaches we are all sinners and all sin so we are taught to hate the sin and love the sinner. Interesting definition of sin I learned in recent years: sin was originally an archery term referencing when you aim for a target and miss it. So sin is defined as failing to meet the target of who we were created to be, failing to meet God’s standards and hopes for what we are capable of becoming. Thank you again for reading and writing!
