#ss

Extremists often derive their inspiration from literal interpretations of texts that should rightly be read not as Associated Press reports from the ancient world, but as theological and literary enterprises requiring independent intellectual assessment. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#assessment #associated #derive #enterprises #extremists

Given that sexual orientation is innate and that we are all, in theological terms, children of God, to deny access to some sacraments based on sexuality is as wrong as denying access to some sacraments based on race or gender. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#based #children #deny #denying #gender

Man's role is uncertain, undefined, and perhaps unnecessary. ↗

— Margaret Mead

#perhaps #role #uncertain #undefined #unnecessary

I am a huge admirer of Franklin Roosevelt's, and I believe social security has done untold good in alleviating the once-widespread issue of poverty among the elderly. FDR believed in the greatness and generosity of Americans - but he was also a cold-blooded politician. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#alleviating #also #am #among #believe

In the fullness of time, I suspect that bigotry against homosexuals will seem as repugnant as racial prejudice does today. Or so one hopes. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#does #fullness #homosexuals #hopes #i

It would be great if politics were fact-based, but it is not, and it is surely not nuance-based. What works in a classroom or a think tank does not work on Capitol Hill or in the White House. Obama sometimes seems to be running the Brookings Institution, not the country. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#capitol hill #classroom #country #does #great

It's possible that the 2012 general-election race will be the least overtly religious one since 1972, the last campaign before Roe v. Wade and the rise of Jimmy Carter brought evangelicalism into the political mainstream. That's because faith remains a complicated issue for Obama, who is still wrongly thought to be a Muslim in some quarters. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#before #brought #campaign #carter #complicated

Reagan is the Republican FDR, an exemplar of presidential greatness. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#greatness #presidential #reagan #republican

World War II ended the Great Depression with one of the great public-private industrial collaborations in the history of man. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#depression #ended #great #great depression #history

The past always seems somehow more golden, more serious, than the present. We tend to forget the partisanship of yesteryear, preferring to re-imagine our history as a sure and steady march toward greatness. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#forget #golden #greatness #history #march