#ric

Among the many problems with taking the Bible literally is it reduces the most mysterious and complex of realities to simple - even simplistic - terms. Yes, scripture speaks of fire and damnation and eternal bliss, but the Bible is the product of human hands and hearts, and much of the imagery is allegorical, not meteorological. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#among #bible #bliss #complex #damnation

As crucial as religion has been and is to the life of the nation, America's unifying force has never been a specific faith, but a commitment to freedom - not least freedom of conscience. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#been #commitment #conscience #crucial #faith

The American system of political spending is so unregulated that it might make Adam Smith rethink free markets. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#american #free #free markets #make #markets

History tells us that America does best when the private sector is energetic and entrepreneurial and the government is attentive and engaged. Who among us, really, would, looking back, wish to edit out either sphere at the entire expense of the other? ↗

— Jon Meacham

#among #attentive #back #best #does

I am an Episcopalian who takes the faith of my fathers seriously, and I would, I think, be disheartened if my own young children were to turn away from the church when they grow up. I am also a critic of Christianity, if by critic one means an observer who brings historical and literary judgment to bear on the texts and traditions of the church. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#am #away #bear #brings #children

The American Dream may be slipping away. We have overcome such challenges before. To recover the Dream requires knowing where it came from, how it lasted so long and why it matters so much. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#american dream #away #before #came #challenges

It would be wonderful if the public sector were always great, or always terrible; or if the private sector were always great, or always terrible. Alas, reality is more complicated than comforting caricatures. Governments fail, and corporations fail. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#always #caricatures #comforting #complicated #corporations

The attacks of September 11 - and subsequent acts of terror from London to Madrid to Fort Hood, Texas - embody the most repulsive of human instincts, the will to power at the price of the lives of others. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#attacks #embody #fort #hood #human

The decline and fall of the modern religious right's notion of a Christian America creates a calmer political environment and, for many believers, may help open the way for a more theologically serious religious life. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#believers #calmer #christian #creates #decline

The fact is that America has been at her most prosperous when government and the private sector have been not at war, but in a wary, if often underplayed, alliance. History is unmistakable on this point. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#america #been #fact #government #her