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It is against the teachings of the Church to hate anyone.

Whoa, wait a minute. That sounds good until you think about it. You are right, THE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH is to not hate, but God hates sin and those who practice sin. Hate the sin and love the sinner is a quote from Gandhi.

Rom_9:13 As it is written, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” should also make us pause.

I refer you to the following for thought:

http://www.learnthebible.org/does-jesus-hate.html

Our God is a Holy God, don’t “pigeon hole” him into only being about love. I kinda like the conclusion:

In conclusion, the evidence is clear. Jesus hated and had reasons to hate. The question I have is: Why is it so difficult for people to imagine Jesus hating anything? I think the answer is that people today do not base their concept of Jesus on the Bible. They have created a Jesus in their own imagination. This is the Jesus of tradition and of man’s imagination; not the Jesus of the Bible. The Bible tells us of this tendency to make Jesus into something He is not and warns us of those who come and preach “another Jesus” (2 Corinthians 11:4

The Jesus of popular conception is “another Jesus.” He is more like Santa Claus (another invention of the human imagination) than the Jesus of the Bible.

As a final note this does not negate what God says about love. He is both, but it is our puny minds that can’t reconcile this and think it is one or the other.

Hello! First off, thank you for a very courteous reply!

I go by what the Catholic Church teaches. That wise little phrase of Gandhi's just happens to sum it up well in discussion. Our interpretations differ; that's OK with me. If you believe God hates people as opposed to simply hating the evil they do, that's your prerogative. It isn't my prerogative to hate people, only the evil they do. I am obliged to pray for their conversion- not in the sense of becoming Catholic- but in a personal conversion from evil to good.

I believe that God is infinite, and that no one in this life can fully comprehend Him. I don't think of Him as Santa; rather I think of Him as I did of my parents. They loved me unconditionally, guided me both with kindness and punishments, when I had a lesson to learn. They took care of me and taught me what they knew to be right in how to treat other people. When I was away from my Faith, they let me decide for myself. I CHOSE to be Catholic! My story is in a post a few weeks back.

I loved my parents, but God comes first. I believe the Catholic Church has the greatest fullness of Truth. Do I hate those who believe differently? NO! There are many paths to God. I was not pushed, I think no one should be. Read my posts in forum: I look for commonality; I question to understand. Our Holy Father is praying this month for Christian unity; I support him in prayer.

Some are willing to discuss as good, kind Christians. Others, no. What they believe is up to them, but I, while respecting their belief that theirs is the true belief (why would a person stray from what they truly believed was right? Right? :) ) I hold fast to the wisdom of the Church in following God!

Again I thank you for your kind response. It's the first I've had today...

God bless you!