“If God loves everyone, why are there different religions?”

I read this on Tom Foreman's blog of letters to President Obama. The question came from his daughter after she was excluded from a group of kids at school because of her religion. This was his answer. I think it is beautiful in it's simplicity. It captures how so many of us feel:

“I think there are different religions,” I told her, “because adults, like children, disagree on things, and sometimes we focus more on those disagreements than on what we have in common. Imagine there was a girl named Katherine. She has a friend at school who calls her that. At dance class, another friend calls her Kathy. And at soccer, a third friend calls her Kate. One day all three of these friends meet, but they do not know they are acquainted with the same girl. One says, ‘My friend Katherine is the nicest girl ever.’ Another says, ‘You are wrong. My friend Kathy is better.’ And the third says, ‘Nonsense, my friend Kate is better than either of your friends.’ I think that is how it is with God. I think we are all praying to the same being, but we use different names and forget that God is big enough to love us all.”

from: http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/12/dear-president-obama-83-ten-things-what-if-god/#more-34300

Dear God, Please help the world to see You for the loving God that You are and to embrace one another as brothers and sisters in that love. Amen.