If I ever stand in a pulpit and insinuate that God's political views and mine are perfectly aligned, I can be very sure that I have downsized the Deity and shattered the second commandment, the pesky one about not creating idols.
The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum--even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking...
Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that...
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's...
Aging is like climbing a mountain. The higher you get, the more tired you become, but your view becomes much more extensive.
Don’t waste life constantly reacting, constantly defending yourself and trying to talk people into a different view of you. People are overwrought & need targets for their stress & anger & a cover for their fear. Have compassion. Live your vapor-short life...
We all have a tendency to think that the world must conform to our prejudices. The opposite view involves some effort of thought, and most people would die sooner than think--in fact they do so.
With the mistaken view of God as a Punisher-in-Chief that most Christians seem to hold, we think our own violence is necessary and even good. But there is no such thing as redemptive violence. Violence doesn’t save; it only destroys all parties in both the short and...
If God doesn't give up on us, we had better not despair of ourselves. We can always do better--especially if we remember the opposite of despair is not optimism but hope. Hope criticizes what is, hopelessness rationalizes it. Hope resists, hopelessness adapts. But...
The most difficult part of personal growth is being willing to turn away from erroneous views from our past. Beliefs held for a long time tend to become sacred to us, even if they're wrong. It's naive to think that we gained a perfect, flawless understanding of truth....