Religion is not about harsh judgments

On Sept. 2, Peter Gennuso claimed that religion defines marriage only as a covenant between a man and a woman. Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature and purpose of the universe. It is not only a Christian concept. It was created by human beings, not God.

There are many different religions encompassing a collection of world views and cultural and belief systems. I was raised Christian. I bring this up because I am tired of hearing those who often call themselves Christian use religion to back up harsh judgments of other people.

Religion should be a vehicle to help us be more compassionate human beings. Please stop using it to clone your own spiritual experiences, which you then use to judge others who do not agree with you. People walking a different path are not your enemies! Jesus said his role was not to judge but to heal and make whole. You are entitled to your own opinions, but please don’t use religion to back up harsh, judgmental words that cause fear and division.

In ending, we just celebrated 40 years of marriage. It was love, commitment and the support of family and friends that got us there, not our gender.

Joanne Gurion

Rolling Meadows