In contemporary American culture, the religions are more and more treated as just passing beliefs - almost as fads - rather than as the fundaments upon which the devout build their lives.

We do not credit to the ideal of religious freedom when we talk as though religious belief is something of which public-spirited adults should be ashamed.

I think that black fiction authors have to work very hard to avoid being typed as seeking only a black audience.

In contemporary American culture, the religions are more and more treated as just passing beliefs - almost as fads - rather than as the fundaments upon which the devout build their lives.

There is much depressing evidence that the religious voice is required to stay out of the public square only when it is pressed in a conservative cause.

This trivializing rhetoric runs the subtle but unmistakable message: pray if you like, worship if you must, but whatever you do, do not on any account take your religion seriously.

Rumor is rarely more interesting than fact, but it is always more readily available.