I have compassion for everyone. No exceptions.

I have compassion for most humans period.

I have compassion for humans. We all screw up. Some screw ups are more hurtful than others.
In all honesty, when I am personally negatively effected by someone else's selfish, or even intentionally hurtful, behavior, I get angry. But I still don't forget they are human.
But let's be clear: empathy does not mean we excuse bad behavior. It just means we don't write off the offender's humanity because of it.

I have compassion for every living thing on earth up to a point !

I have empathy and love for all humans but I also have anger and hatred. I am human.

Without compassion we are no better than them.

I do feel a bit sorry for them -- until they try to push their beliefs into my life space.

Reading these comments makes me worry about the state of the States now-a-day and age.

I'm from over the pond (the UK) and we, fortunately, are not inundated with religious idiots.

We do have believers however they are far less likely to force it upon you and rub your face in it. They're also more likely to have a comventional conversation around your beliefs as well as theirs (or perhaps this is because I haven't yet met 'that asshole'.

The fact I went to a Roman Catholic school and my teacher of Religious Education was an atheist speaks volumes.

I believe it isn't necessarily the religion itself but the state of your culture. In the States not one congress man/woman/President (current or historical) is a non-believer and I call BS on that crap! It is statistically implausible!! When your government's motto is 'in God we trust' I wouldn't expect anything different from the masses (pun intended).

What I find strange are the Preachers that want Homosexuals to be tormented and when they are found out by their congregation to be gay ,suddenly they are forgiven christians instead of the blood hungry assholes

I feel sorry for them.

As long as they don't try to force there religeon on me, my family or friends in my presence they are just misguided people.

I pitty them more than anything.

You give an extreme case, but there are more subtle things that are wide spread.

One example is tithing. I know many people that give 10% of their salary to the church. It doesn’t matter matter how much in debt they are, or whatever financial problems they face, they keep giving away 10% like a “good Christian”.

This is hurting them in more ways than they realize, current and future, but they keep saying “God will take care of me”.

Yes, I have compassion but perhaps worst, I feel sorry for them. They need to believe in god to face the world. Who I have the most trouble with are the highly educated - especially in the sciences - that continue to believe. I often wonder about the things in the universe that we cannot experience because of our limited senses (evolved specifically due to the energy distribution in our sun). I have stopped thinking that all that we can’t know is god. And I expect others educated on the sciences to think in the same way. It’s a bit disppointing when I find out they don’t.

I've tried...but no...no I do not.

I feel compassion for almost everyone. Does not excuse bad behaviour, however.

Compassion means passion for all - including yourself. When I look into myself, I see the compulsions of the other people - the desire for control over another like the preacher, the need for justice of the husband, and the fear of the unknown of the congregation. While I have matured and don't require violence or self-deception to deal with these things, I understand the impulse. Where possible, I would engage in conversation and try to encourage reason in those receptive and less fearful. In the others, compassion and containment. In the end, all of this is just fear and unchecked fear (of which religion is part) poisons everything. So, yes... Compassion and containment (i.e. don't vote for them or put them in positions of influence)

It depends on the type of believer. I have worked in the addiction world, and there are many people who are helped by the idea of a Higher Power. It's not actually necessary for that HP to be a deity, but for some it helps.

In psychological terms, I understand their HP to be a kind of imaginary replacement for the parent(s) they never had: loving, powerful, wise, guiding, never lets you down, etc. It's a little tragic that if people never got proper nurturing they have to invent an imaginary substitue. On the other hand, if that works for them, it's hard for me to want to deny them the opportunity.

Now when it comes to people who just sucked up religion because their stuck-up, self-righteous community taught it to them, and they retain a holier-than-thou attitude about it - those folks I can't tolerate at all. That's just social oppression in action, creating an artificial hierarchy, for the purpose of pathetically trying to 'lord' it over others.

I could go on and rant at length about various types of believers, but I think these two main divisions probably illustrate my stance pretty well.

I respect their right to believe whatever they want. I flat out do not get into discussions with believers about it. It's not worth my time or energy. Generally speaking (I'm not talking about the militant crazies out there), their belief system hurts no one. I just let them be. And yes, I have compassion when their belief system lets them down. I have compassion when anyone is hurting. Being let down by someone or something you hold so close to your heart is painful.

No I don't think so - I am friends with quite a few believers but we stay off that topic and talk about other thigns if it becomes religious I get off . I don't have compassion, that would seem patronising to me - I respect their right to have a sky god and just don't want to be bothered talking about some thing that doesnt interest me in any way - It is often quite hard to be atheist amongst groups of believers so it works both ways.

It’s already been established that this is an extreme example, so I’ll lay off of that. I’d like to say I’m not compassionate but I think I am so long as I deem it a worthy subject to be compassionate about. Religion is so personalized that I really don’t care if they believe or not. If tithing puts them in the poor house but they’re happy, so be it. When it comes to theists aggression towards atheists and agnostics, I don’t pity them for its arrogant to look down on them, I don’t have compassion for them, they don’t really deserve compassion for being a dick, but at the same time I want to show them that we’re all human and religion isn’t a line that matters in our big sand pit of life. I remain hopeful that we can all get along.

I pitty them more than anything.

You give an extreme case, but there are more subtle things that are wide spread.

One example is tithing. I know many people that give 10% of their salary to the church. It doesn’t matter matter how much in debt they are, or whatever financial problems they face, they keep giving away 10% like a “good Christian”.

This is hurting them in more ways than they realize, current and future, but they keep saying “God will take care of me”.

I have compassion for all people, even--and I suppose especially--for those who act like sheep.

Well just to answer the actual question, yes and no. I have empathy for my fellow man, believer or not, Christian or otherwise, but there are certain groups / sects / ideologies that I can no longer have anything but contempt for and I no longer feel the slightest need to make sure people who identified with such groups / sects / ideologies feel comfortable doing so.

As a fundamentalist I was taught that politics was beneath us, an unwise seeking after temporal power and status when we should keep our eye on the "prize", the high calling of god in our lives, and "endure to the end", not counting on any reward until the afterlife. And they positively railed against "situational ethics" -- ethical rationalizations to allow one to attain goals via "the end justifies the means".

Now a generation later they see nothing corrupt or wrong in what Scott Pruitt does, give Trump a "mulligan" for screwing a porn star so long as he gives them the judicial appointments they desire, open their churches to comfort and support a credibly accused pedophile running for high office (Roy Moore, in Alabama), and on and on. And on.

If the mentors and teachers I sat under many moons ago ever had any credibility or moral authority, it's long gone, and I consider them all to be lying sacks of shit now.

That doesn't mean I verbally assault them all the instant I find out their one of THOSE asshats, but ... I'm afraid that I'm far more eager to make them squirm than I once was.

Everyone justifies and and rationalizes things. Admitting this is the first step to reducing it.