#us

The central tenet of Christianity as it has come down to us is that we are to reach out when our instinct is to pull inward; to give when we want to take; to love when we are inclined to hate; to include when are tempted to exclude. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#christianity #come #down #exclude #give

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

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

The power of the American system of republicanism lies in its capacity to allow religious belief to be a competing, not a controlling, factor in American life. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#american #american life #belief #capacity #competing

We are now living in a post-Roosevelt, post-Reagan universe. What comes next will not be post-partisan, because faction is an intrinsic human impulse. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#comes #faction #human #impulse #intrinsic

Whether one believes or not, religion is as real a force in the life of the world as economics or politics, and it demands fair-minded attention. Even if you think the entire religious enterprise is at best misguided and at worst counterproductive, it remains vital, inspiring great good and, sometimes, great evil. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#believes #best #counterproductive #demands #economics

While we remain a nation decisively shaped by religious faith, our politics and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago. I think this is a good thing - good for our political culture. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#ago #character #christian #culture #decisively

Prayer does not use up artificial energy, doesn't burn up any fossil fuel, doesn't pollute. Neither does song, neither does love, neither does the dance. ↗

— Margaret Mead

#artificial #burn #dance #does #energy

Our cautious ancestors, when yawning, blocked the way to the entrance of evil spirits by putting their hands before their mouths. We find a reason for the gesture in the delicacy of manner which forbids an indecent exposure. ↗

— George H. Mead

#before #blocked #cautious #delicacy #entrance