We are not all the same; we don't think alike; and we have the right to openly express those differences in ways that, hopefully, will contribute to our community's welfare.

I was trying to write a straightforward book of sociological analysis, or at least cultural criticism, and I failed.

I have no interest in romanticizing poor black people, having been one of them myself in our beloved hometown of Detroit.

My church is the world! I want to bring the gospel to as broad and as interesting an audience as possible.

I'm in bed, so to speak, more with those people who consider themselves atheists but who are concerned about the same things, ideas, and politics I'm concerned with than those who claim to be religious in the same way that I am but have no interest in the political reorganization of society, which needs to be talked about from the pulpit.

I don't think you can bury words. I think the more you try to dismiss them, the more power you give to them, the more circulation they have.

The language of faith is crucial because it affords human beings the privilege of intimacy with the ultimate.