By Ajit Krishna Dasa

It is important to acknowledge at the outset that many people have legitimate emotional and intellectual reasons to be suspicious of religion. Certain prominent theological systems promote the notion that God hates particular individuals or groups, withdraws His love from them, and condemns them to eternal punishment with no possibility of redemption. In such systems, divine love is conditional and retractable — and consequently, followers of these religions are often encouraged to withhold their compassion from those outside their belief system. This portrayal of God as selectively loving and eternally punitive leaves lasting psychological scars and colors the way many people instinctively react to any discussion of God or religion.