The fact that religion plays such a part in how people vote troubles me troubles me as a minister's daughter. Because I always felt that the separation of church and state was what our forefathers and foremothers really fought for.

Selfishness is the only real atheism aspiration unselfishness the only real religion.

It's not surprising then they get bitter they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.

Recounting of a life story a mind thinking aloud leads one inevitably to the consideration of problems which are no longer psychological but spiritual.

We saw what happened in Jimmy Carter's administration. President Carter was a good man with the best of intentions. But he came to Washington without a good working relationship with Democratic members of Congress which played a big part in his administration's problems.

And across Afghanistan every single day Afghan soldiers Afghan police and ISAF troops are serving shoulder-to-shoulder in some very difficult situations. And our engagement with them our shoulder-to-shoulder relationship with them our conduct of operations with them every single day defines the real relationship.

Afghanistan is going to be here a long time and what's critical is that Afghanistan's relationship with its neighbors are to the maximum extent they can be constructive and operationally useful.

The people at the record company had asked me if I could write a song about my life my relationship with God and where I'm from. Well I can't write a song on purpose my songs come in a moment of inspiration or desperation.

They are representations of many shared hours of collaboration between us all. That's the real nature of the relationship the orchestra and I are trying to build.