My grandmother found comfort in religion during the war, but I've seen it used to justify exclusion too many times. When I visited a Buddhist temple in Thailand, I noticed how monks emphasized compassion over doctrine, which felt different from the hellfire sermons I heard growing up in the US. Does organized religion inherently create an in-group versus out-group dynamic, or can it foster genuine universal empathy? I'm not sure if the problem is the belief itself or how humans institutionalize it. Isn't it possible that the same scripture can be both a shield and a sword depending on who wields it? I genuinely struggle with this because I've met deeply peaceful believers and also hateful ones using the same texts.