“Religion is compulsory in English schools, you know.”
Religion“Even if I accepted that Jesus - like almost every other prophet on record - was born of a virgin, I cannot think that this proves the divinity of his father or the truth of his teachings. The same would be true if I accepted that he had been resurrected.”
Truth“When I go to the clinic next and sit with a tube in my arm and watch the poison go in, I'm in an attitude of abject passivity. It doesn't feel like fighting at all it just feels like submitting.”
Attitude“I think the materialist conception of history is valid.”
History“My children, to the extent that they have found religion, have found it from me, in that I insist on at least a modicum of religious education for them.”
Education“For most of my life I let women do the driving and was happy to let them.”
Women“In the grip of a neurological disorder, I am fast losing control of words even as my relationship with the world has been reduced to them.”
Relationship“Religion is compulsory in English schools, you know.”
Religion“My favorite time in the cycles of public life is the time when the Pope is dead and they haven't elected a new one. There's no one in the world who is infallible for those weeks. And you know, I don't miss it.”
Time“I don't think the war in Afghanistan was ruthlessly enough waged.”
War“The amazing fact is that America is founded on a document. It's a work in progress. It can be tested by each generation.”
Amazing“The great thing about the United States and the historically magnetic effect it has had on a lot of people like me is its generosity, to put it simply.”
Great“The term 'the American Left' is as near to being meaningless or nonsensical as any term could really be in politics. It isn't really a force in politics anymore. And it would do well to ask itself why that is.”
Politics“Religion is part of the human make-up. It's also part of our cultural and intellectual history. Religion was our first attempt at literature, the texts, our first attempt at cosmology, making sense of where we are in the universe, our first attempt at health care, believing in faith healing, our first attempt at philosophy.”
Faith“One of the great questions of philosophy is, do we innately have morality, or do we get it from celestial dictation? A study of the Ten Commandments is a very good way of getting into and resolving that issue.”
Great“Of course, I do everything for money.”
Money“A faction willing to take the risks of making war on the ossified status quo in the Middle East can be described as many things, but not as conservative.”
War“It's surprising to me how many of my friends send Christmas cards, or holiday cards, including my atheist and secular friends.”
Christmas“I have more than once in my time woken up feeling like death.”
Death“And when I was young, my family was perfectly nice. I write a lot about it, as you noticed. But it was rather limited. I think, I don't think anyone in my family would really feel I'd done them an injustice by saying that. We didn't see many people. There were many books. It was as if I wanted to get away from home.”
Family“I love it when Muslims go to war with each other, as I do when the Christians do, because it shows there's no such thing as the Christian world and the Islamic world. That's all crap.”
War