A continuum.........................

   
     "For me, this conjures up the idea of a continuum that stretches from the unavoidable human flaw inherent in trying to understand the ineffability of the Divine to the outright control with which some religious institutions try to take over people's lives.  Group-loyalty trumps God-loyalty.  Behind this pole, of course, lies the danger of extremism.
     God's love is not exclusive and doctrinaire; nor should religion be.  Killing people in the name of God, or causing them to suffer unless they convert, or consigning them to the fires of Hell is not the work of God.  This is all abhorrent to God and prevents God's self-manifestation in the human community.  How often have we sinned against God in the name of God?"

-Meister Eckhart,  as channeled by James C. Harrington and Sidney G. Hall, III in their book, Three Mystics Walk Into A Tavern:  A Once and Future Meeting of Rumi, Meister Eckhart, and Moses de Leon in Medieval Venice