In our sensible zeal to keep religion from dominating our politics, we have created a political and legal culture that presses the religiously faithful to be other than themselves, to act publicly, and sometimes privately as well, as though their faith does not matter to them.

Richard John Neuhaus, in his well-known book The Naked Public Square, tells us that in America, the public square has become openly hostile to religion.

We live today in a world in which nobody believes choices should have consequences. But may I tell you the great secret that our culture seeks to deny? You cannot escape the consequences of your choices. Time runs in only one direction.

When you shoot someone who is fleeing, it's not self-defense. It's an execution.

I think of my novels as entertainments.

Lots of white people think black people are stupid. They are stupid themselves for thinking so, but regulation will not make them smarter.

So much emotion goes into writing fiction.