No, I’m afraid they have no compassion at all. It blows my mind.

How fascinating, if sad, to watch that building come down.

I feel like some number of Christians need a remedial course on laws and the OT prophets (who were very in favor of taking care of the widow, orphan, and alien among you and wildly against taking advantage of the poor) and the Gospels. I mean, even if they just read Matthew a few times, it seems like it should help? From chapter 25:
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
[followed by denunciation and damnation for those who didn’t, in case that would motivate someone where pleasing Christ doesn’t?]

And of course this is after the Sermon on the Mount “Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” “Depart from me, I never knew you.”

And that’s after “love your neighbor” was called the second greatest commandment *and like* loving God with all you have, in Matthew 22. And the parable of the two sons and the vineyard, where one son says he’ll do the work – and doesn’t – and the other son says he won’t – but then goes and does the work – and Jesus asks his crowd: which of the two did what his father asked? And that seems to indicate that while it’s *also* good to say the right things, it is not *enough* without also *DOING THE LOVE STUFF* which Jesus also makes fairly clear isn’t optional and isn’t tidy and restricted to those who are enough like us. And Luke has the parable of the Good Samaritan, where the guy with the wrong religion and nation Does Religion Better than two of the religious elite. A bunch of atheists are working in the vineyard taking care of the vines, while a bunch of “evangelical Christians” – who are You Can’t Ignore Parts Of The Bible people, in theory? – are chopping chunks of the vineyard down instead after they’ve been asked to keep the vines alive and fruitful, and this is weird for me to see given my background; I want them to love their neighbor and also not put “this is what a Good Christian does” signs up on the path that leads to hell, thanks.

If someone respects the moral values of the intellectual leaders of Elizabethan England more than they respect the Bible, however, there’s also an amazing monologue performed by Ian McKellan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQiw9xbQUYQ

Gut-wrenching really. I cannot understand their thinking. For the church, I hope, by the slow and careful destruction, that maybe they salvaged the chandeliers and some other pieces.

The Church building in Tacoma in which we spent many years and raised our family, also built by member labor and dedicated by then-apostle David O. McKay, was torn down a few years ago as the property was sold to the hospital system which by that point engulfed it. It was no longer being used because of maintenance issues, especially dry rot in the basement. Nothing was salvaged, including the pipe organ. (It had a disappearing wall, lowering into the basement level, like the Chevy Chase building, to increase the chapel seating capacity when needed.) I’m glad they will rebuild Chevy Chase.