With capitalism and prosperity came something new: the idea of progress. This is the notion that things are getting better and will continue to get better in the future.

There is a legitimate argument over whether the death penalty effectively deters violent crime, although my personal observation is that not one of the criminals who have been executed over the years has ever killed again.

Christianity makes of life a moral drama in which we play a starring role and in which the most ordinary events take on a grand significance.

Christianity enhanced the notion of political and social accountability by providing a new model: that of servant leadership. In ancient Greece and Rome no one would have dreamed of considering political leaders anyone's servants. The job of the leader was to lead. But Christ invented the notion that the way to lead is by serving the needs of others, especially those who are the most needy.

Death is the great wrecking ball that destroys everything. Everything that we have done, everything that we are doing now, and all our plans for the future are completely and irrevocably destroyed when we die. Only teenagers live in that state of temporary insanity when they believe themselves immune from death.

I really want to move to a country where the poor people are fat.

Christianity has always embraced both reason and faith.