"The greatest of these is love”

Am I anti-Christian if I read, agree with and accept some Buddhist principles? Would a Catholic be considered anti-Catholic for believing that a woman has a right to choose whether to keep or abort her unborn baby?

I am a Christian woman. I believe that Jesus bled, suffered and died for the remission of my sins and that Jesus resurrected after three days. HIS resurrection symbolizes power and provides me with a basis for my faith and hope in knowing that Jesus will take care of me.

Given that I am Christian, I have always felt afraid when I was growing up to explore other religions. It always felt like there was an unspoken rule that to believe in the ideas of other religions was blasphemous or the practice of serving two gods. Maybe that was a figment of my imagination, but I don’t think so.

Recently, a friend of mine suggested that I read two books, "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne and "How to Expand Love" by the Dalai Lama. I have read "The Secret" in its entirety and am in the process of reading the second book. Both books I recommend. While reading these selections, I realized that there is a lot to learn from other religions and that it does not make me anti-Christian. Actually, while reading both books, I found that some of the concepts compliment the teachings of Jesus.

The question of religion and spirituality comes to mind as well. Can you be spiritual and not be religious? I think the answer is yes. The essence of spirituality to me is living your life in a manner that shows compassion towards others. Spirituality is finding that personal place of inner peace and comfort from a higher source other than yourself. It's the recognition that no one, not even you, is perfect. It's the forgiveness and acceptance of your own mistakes and the mistakes others make toward you. It's the positivity you invoke in your own life and in the lives of others. In a nutshell, the greatest concept of spirituality is love.