When an epidemic arises, groups do not just work to address the containment of the epidemic, trying to treat those who can be saved and providing hospice care for those who will die. When a disease ravages through a community, it is a given that there will be groups working towards the annihilation of the root of the problem, the pathogen that is causing the deaths. Maybe during some far-off century, people would leave the epidemic to the whims of precarious gods. But now, it would be considered irresponsible for the root of the problem to remain ignored.

Only one day until the Compassion Forum. Already the pundits are opining about what this means for Americans of faith and the presidential candidates. It was not long ago that the media mostly treated the GOP as more Christian than Democrats, and forgot to talk about the interfaith diversity of the American public.