Just because the other person is obviously, blindingly wrong, doesn't mean we can be sloppy in our arguments against him. All we do in that case is strengthen his position and weaken our own.
The road to hell is paved with religious conservatives? Nah, probably not. I've no doubt, though, that there are a few being used to fill in the potholes.
History is unchanging truths veiled in ever-changing circumstances.
Do what you need to do.
There are none so blind as those who think they can see.
Anger is a corpse in the closet: the longer locked up, the greater the stink when brought out.
We don't have any enemies. Just friends we wish wouldn't call so often.
To say, "You're angry over such a little thing," is like saying, "The fire started with just a little match." It may well be true, but it does nothing to alleviate the present situation.
The powerful -- be they church leaders or politicians -- always seem to forget the one lesson of history: everything changes. The party in power today is not going to be the party in power in a decade, or next year. The group you made a gentleman's agreement with this election cycle is going to be a completely different group, with different demands, next one. And yet, the powerful insist on trying to weaken the rules that keep them from being still more powerful, as if that could fend off the day of their fall -- and the rise of others, probably their opponents, who will operate under the same weakened rules and ugly precedents. Unfortunately, in those sorts of payback situations, nobody's a winner.
Religious leaders too often think that if they just got the government to pay for their programs, they could do so much more good. But they should also know too well from bitter experience that big donors often have strings attached to their donations, and Uncle Sam is the biggest donor of all. Accept his money, even if he seems to be nodding in agreement with you, and sooner or later you'll find you've compromised away your mission and become too dependent on his largesse to get it back. Churches should keep away from the state, not just for the good of the state, but for their own good as well.
There's always a temptation for the Church to try and take on the power of the state. There are all those souls to save, don't you know, and all those rules to pass to make sure they are. But politics, statecraft, lawmaking, power brokering -- those engines all run on compromise, and compromise is the worst enemy of principle, which is, after all, what the Church is supposed to be about to be about. It's hard to be a moral compass when you keep turning from your course.
Church and state are drawn to each other like moths and flame, and when they are, it's always about power -- power over the population, power over souls. power over votes. But religious and political leaders alike should remember what happens when the moth and flame finally get together.
There is no good cause for religious persecution. No convert is true who comes to the faith through pain and fear. All persecution does is plant seeds of doubt amongst the hearts of the faithful as to the truth of their cause.
Poverty, when voluntary, is quite probably a virtue. But few can blame those subjected to it involuntarily for wishing to be done with it.
Aesthetics are not morality. Don't confuse Taste for Truth, Icky for Evil, or Preference for Perfection.
Anyone who says the computer always gets things right is trying to sell you a computer.
Usually, I'm not really asking advice. I'm asking approval.
Silence is not damage control. Silence is standing by hoping that if you don't pay attention to the fires and the water rushing into the hold, it will all magically go away. Swift, forthright, honest communication: that's damage control. Because what's usually damaged most in a crisis is trust, and you can only be trusted if you show yourself trustworthy.
You may autopsy a body all day long, but you'll never learn what sort of jokes he liked.
WIST is my collection of quotations I find meaningful, moving, amusing (intended or not), well-phrased, and/or to which I just say I "Wish I'd Said That." But just because I quote it here doesn't mean I actually agree with it. If you have any comments, corrections, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to
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