Religion can be a passionate topic for some. A private matter for others.

I have my own path I am walking, just like everyone else. While I personally don’t follow a particular dogma, I respect everyone’s own journey – whether that be Christianity, atheism, Buddhism, Islam, or any of the other myriad options where people can (hopefully) find peace.

Not long ago, I encountered very different sides of what religion can bring out in people. One one side, I felt love, acceptance, and support from those who were deeply devout in their beliefs. They typified the teachings of their religion and you could feel internal peace in how they lived and acted.

Then on the other hand, there was a person who was going into the realm of extreme and opted to be judgmental, harsh, condemning anyone who was not doing or acting exactly how this person’s interpretation of their religion was – rather than peace and love that is professed, it went the opposite direction.

All parties followed the same book, read the same verses, and some chose to head toward love and acceptance, the other to judgment and condemnation.

This piece came about as I stood back and watched such drastically different interpretations and actions of their dogma.