The problem of Islam as a political force is an essential one for our time and for the years to come, and we cannot approach it with a modicum of intelligence if we start out from a position of hatred.

Everyone is flailing through this life without an owner's manual, with whatever modicum of grace and good humor we can manage.

My children to the extent that they have found religion have found it from me in that I insist on at least a modicum of religious education for them.