Hi Jessica, welcome to the forum. Are you looking to condense the ideas in this paragraph into a poetic statement, or are you looking to lead with a poetic statement that will serve as a topic sentence for this paragraph?
If its a lead in, maybe:
Could you imagine the Taliban ruling Jerusalem, or Fundamentalist Christians leading prayers in Mecca or Salt Lake City? Religious tolerance cannot be fostered from the extremes.
I don't know. Something like that maybe. It would also work with the religious tolerance statement first followed by those or any other similar questions.
You could also lead with something like this. If Jerry Falwell were the only one to vote for gay marriage, would it pass. Or any thing else that might make the reader engage more.
If its a lead in, maybe:
Could you imagine the Taliban ruling Jerusalem, or Fundamentalist Christians leading prayers in Mecca or Salt Lake City? Religious tolerance cannot be fostered from the extremes.
I don't know. Something like that maybe. It would also work with the religious tolerance statement first followed by those or any other similar questions.
You could also lead with something like this. If Jerry Falwell were the only one to vote for gay marriage, would it pass. Or any thing else that might make the reader engage more.
The secret of poetry is cruelty.--Jon Anderson