I am officially Jewish, but I’m Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant.

This is what the Sabbath should feel like. A pause. Not just a minor pause, but a major pause. Not just lowering the volume, but a muting. As the famous rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel put it, the Sabbath is a sanctuary in time.

The World Health Organization ... estimated that 1.6 million years of healthy living are lost every year in Europe because of noise pollution.

I thought religion would make me live with my head in the clouds, but as often as not, it grounds me in this world.

Taking the Bible too literally is a mistake. It should be read as a guidebook of wisdom and insight.

A few weeks later, I’m in a fluorescent-lit classroom in Chelsea awaiting the start of the official Mensa test. I’m sitting next to a guy who’s doing a series of elaborate neck stretches, like we’re about to engage in a vigorous rugby match. He’s neatly laid out four types of gum on his Formica desk: Juicy Fruit, Wrigley Spearmint, Big Red, and Eclipse. I hate this guy. I hope to God he’s not a genius.

I thought religion would eventually wither away and we'd all be worshiping at the altar of science.