Some of my best friends are Hindu or Buddhist or Sikh, my students as well. This is the sea in which I swim.

There's still plenty of people who have this deep conviction that America is a Christian country and ought to say so in its Constitution, etc. But that's not the legal basis on which we're framed. So the flourishing of religion, of religious diversity, is really built into who we are.

The issue of "who we are" has been an ongoing one. It's part of the ongoing identity crisis of America.

We are built on a structure of the freedom of religion and the non-establishment of religion. That really is a pretty sturdy rudder for the U.S.

Pluralism isn't just diversity; it's something we create out of this diversity.

There are two great things that we need to find in life: one is love, probably the most important, and the second is work, and they compete with one another from time to time.

Be prepared for changes.