The greatest fear that haunts this city is a suitcase bomb nuclear or germ. Many people carry small gas masks. The masses here seem to be resigned to the inevitable believing an attack of major proportions will happen.

A lot of people these days are not music lovers - they just want to be famous which is a very different thing to what I grew up believing in.

The seven deadly sins: Want of money bad health bad temper chastity family ties knowing that you know things and believing in the Christian religion.

Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.

What is faith? If you believe something because you have evidence for it or rational argument that is not faith. So faith seems to be believing something despite the absence of evidence or rational argument for it.

Religion is part of the human make-up. It's also part of our cultural and intellectual history. Religion was our first attempt at literature the texts our first attempt at cosmology making sense of where we are in the universe our first attempt at health care believing in faith healing our first attempt at philosophy.

Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will.

My parents shared not only an improbable love they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name Barack or blessed believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.

To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.

Now God be praised that to believing souls gives light in darkness comfort in despair.