Christians From The United States

"Discussing Thank God for Evolution! with those you care about will open new doors of possibility... and provide common ground where none existed before. This book is a perfect gift, not to convert others to your way of thinking but to converse... deeply and heartfully about those things that matter most."

"I met Connie Barlow at a lecture... Connie was the author of four books, and two of them had "evolution" in their titles... She, too, was a long-time "epic of evolution" enthusiast. ...[H]er passion for sharing a sacred understanding of cosmic history was no less than mine. Seven months later I asked Connie to marry me."

"[W]e were watching... Evolution: A Journey into Where We Came From and Where We're Going. ...episode ..."What About God?" It examined the struggle that conservative Christian college students face in trying to embrace both evolution and a pre-evolutionary interpretation of their faith. ...Connie ...said, "You need to be out there talking to those students. ...to show how an evolutionary understanding can enrich one's faith!" ...A few weeks later, after a frustrating day at work, I told her (not really serious...) "...I wish we could travel non-stop, teaching and preaching the Great Story ..." Her response... "I'd love to do that!""

"[W]e chose to display on our van both a Jesus fish and a Darwin fish—kissing. A retired biology professor... laughed, "Oh great! Now you piss everyone off!""

"Traditional religions have played crucial roles in fostering cooperation within each tribe, kingdom, and early nation—though not infrequently by provoking suspicion and enmity of those outside the group. ...[T]o fulfill their potentials in our postmodern world, each will have to harmonize its core doctrines with the evolutionary world view. ...[T]he evolutionary outlook bolsters their core teachings. Instead of an intrusion... a precious blessing."

"Evolutionary versions of each religion... are emerging. ...[A]dherents of each religion have discovered ...Religious insights and perspectives freed from the narrowness of their time and place of origin are more comprehensive and grounded in measurable reality ...Evolution does not diminish religion; it expands its meaning and value globally."

"Scientists... are moving away from a mechanistic... way of thinking and into an emergent, developmental worldview. Evolution... can be embraced as God glorifying and Christ edifying."

"The ancient religious paths are aching for coherence with the great discoveries born of the quest to understand this... Universe, the living world, our evolved selves, and... our innermost psyches."

"[W]e are now in a mass extinction... [T]here's only been one mass extinction in the past that we've lost the insects and the forest, and we're now adding carbon dioxide, methane and notrous oxide faster than then..."

"The 's health has been in decline for one or two centuries, and in runaway collapse... for decades... The Great Acceleration of Gaian Collapse."

"No otherworldly, unnatural paradise can compare with the utterly REAL heaven I now experience... every moment of every day, free of resentment, guilt, and unfinished business. ...By genuinely appreciating my instincts—thanks to the evolutionary world-view—and creating... structures of support, I now, by grace, experience an ease and freedom I've never known before regarding old habits, patterns, and temptations."

"[L]et me slip into pride or arrogance, deception or inauthenticity, blame or resentment, or stingy, ungrateful self-centeredness, and I won't have to worry about burning in some otherworldly hell after I die. I'll be supping with Satan right here and now."

"Thanks to our fresh understanding of the deep-time face of grace, science and religion... are ushering each other into greatness."

"Denial gets a bad wrap, because denial is instinctual."

"Denial is also the instinctual impulse to reject or discount information that calls into question our hopes, assumptions, or expectations about the future."

"We all have denial instincts... so we... can have compassion for ourselves and for each other... [D]enial often gets a bad wrap. It's often just adaptive inattention."

"[P]aradoxically, "hope-free" collapse acceptance may be the only thing that can help us not make a bad situation worse—and live fully, fearlessly, and deeply meaningfully, even at TEOTWAWKI."

"Homo colossus is Willam Catton's term for "industrial" humanity. That's where each of us uses 20-50 times the resources, and exudes 20-50 times the waste as Homo sapiens."

"Collapse is when a gradual downward trend in biophysical health and wellbeing goes into unstoppable decline; runaway, out of control; etc., it's... abrupt climate change... like 10,000 years of climate change in half a human lifetime. ...This is known as "The Great Acceleration" of Biospheric Collapse."

"At any measuere, absolutely everything that humans rely on... is now in precipitous free fall, unstoppable."

"Any measurement, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide... We're losing all of the ice of the world... The oceans, the plankton, the corals, the fish, , oceanic dead zones and deoxygenation... and , the amount of soil, the fertility of the soil, the moisture of the soil, and permafrost is releasing tons of methane... unstoppable."

"If people don’t go to jail for this, the American people should just stand up and say, ‘Listen, enough’s enough, let’s don’t have elections anymore. I wish there was a special investigation into the voter fraud, but it was outrageous what happened, but nobody wanted to look into it because they were afraid they were going to be called out. But it is what it is. I hate that it happened."

"[Told white nationalism is a form of racism] Well, that's your opinion. That's your opinion [...] If it's racism, I'm totally against it."

"Last night, given another chance to clear the air, he suggested that, no, White nationalists aren’t inherently racist. That yes, White nationalism is American. And that the definition of White nationalism is a matter of opinion. It’s hard to believe that the senator from Alabama has to be corrected again. The senator from Alabama is wrong, wrong, wrong. The definition of White nationalism is not a matter of opinion."

"My opinion of a white nationalist — if somebody wants to call them a white nationalist — to me, is an American. It's an American. Now, if that white nationalist is a racist, I’m totally against anything that they want to do, because I am 110% against racism."

"Q: Do you believe they should allow white nationalists in the military? A: Well, they call them that. I call them Americans. We are losing in the military so fast. And why? I can tell you why. Because the Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists, people that don't believe in our agenda, as Joe Biden's agenda."

"“[US Senatory from Alabama,] Tommy Tuberville (audio voiceover): Who are we to say that we’re a better vetter and picker of people than Donald Trump? CNN’s Manu Raju (audio voiceover): Isn’t that your job? Advice and consent. That’s your job [in these Senate hearings]. Tuberville (audio voiceover): Advice and consent, but that’s more the Democrats. Donald Trump did all the vetting they needed to do on Pete Hegseth. And I just can’t believe we even have people on our side saying, Well, I’ve got to look at this, I’ve got to look at that. What they’re doing is they’re throwing rocks at Donald Trump. They’re not throwing them at Pete Hegseth. They’re throwing them at Donald Trump because they’re saying, Well, we don’t believe you did the right vetting, and we don’t believe he can do the job. Wait a minute, that’s not our job to do that.” (12/5/2024) (Transcript of an interview between Tuberville & CNN reporter Manu Raju, quoted in Greg Sargent 12/6/2024. *Trump’s Cabinet of Sex Abusers Is Blowing Up in His Face*. transcript online. https://newrepublic.com/article/189102/transcript-trumps-cabinet-sex-abusers-blowing-face)"

"The Democrats characterize all MAGA Republicans in the military as white nationalists, wrong. Wrong. OK? [...] We can't get politics in the military. This has nothing to do with extremists."

"I look at a white nationalist as a Trump Republican. That's what we're called all the time, a MAGA person. [...] I agree that we should not be characterizing Trump supporters as white nationalists."

"You work with so many people of different backgrounds, especially in community theater. From aspiring actors to an optometrist who likes to moonlight (as a performer). It's such a weird and fun and funny environment, but I was so grateful. You are an amalgamation of all the people you've worked with or that encouraged you, or that you learned from."

"Growing up, my love for theater was insatiable. I just love to make people laugh and clap and smile. When I discovered drama and the ability to move people to tears, it was so powerful. As much as you can feel like God created you to do something, I believe He made me to entertain."

"The coolest thing about awards season is celebrating together. What a great year it's been for Broadway. That I get to be included is amazing."

"Honestly, the biggest challenge is just my own brain."

"I’ve gone through points in this where I felt really confident, and I’ve gone through some really heavy moments where I thought, ‘I’m crap in this show.’ Then for this to happen, it really smacks you in the face and says, ‘Listen to your people that love you and that are telling you you’re doing good work."

"I know as an actor I don't want to sacrifice my morality or my integrity; I wouldn't be able to sleep at night."

"My career was in a place where I felt like even though I had accomplished so many things up to that point, I was still, and to be honest, even now, I still feel this way. I feel like I’m a bit on the outside looking in. I’ve never really felt like I am a part of whatever the cool kid group is."

"I was running to lots of other things, whether it was sex or drugs or booze or things to distract me from, to numb myself from the pain that I was running away from most of my life. The irony is that booze can give you this temporary relief, but then the next day amplifies that anxiety tenfold. So, then you’re running back to get more and it just becomes this vicious cycle."

"Prayer and meditation are very important, which are also somewhat synonymous, I think, in some ways. Sometimes my prayer is meditation. Sometimes I’m just there and allowing God to take over what that time is. I’m not really saying anything as much as I’m just spending time. I think one of the most important things, at least for me, is taking my thoughts captive. Our minds are so powerful, but they are so easily, so easily hijacked if we don’t really go, ‘Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I’m doing it again. I’m starting to speak ill of myself again. I’m starting to be harsh or critical of myself. I’m starting to judge where I’m at in my life."

"If you are taking shortcuts, cutting corners or essentially compromising your integrity... then you might get there, but how stable will it be? How long will it last? How fulfilling will it be? Look—I dunno—maybe there are people who've cut all kinds of corners and they get to the top and they're so stoked. But I can't relate to that type of person; I don't understand."

"We all stumble, we all fall, we're all broken. But to highlight someone who, even through all that imperfection, is still trying to do what is right, to hold on to what is most valuable."

"Not to say you can't make movies for the flock, that's great, too...I personally want to make movies that get to everyone. I want inspirational stories that inspire hope and faith to get to people that don't have a lot of hope and faith. I think this movie does that; there's a natural inspirational aspect to it you can't get around."

"But I want to encourage people and not take things too seriously. I want myself and everyone else to feel at ease and feel like they’re in their safe place."

"My favorite kind of character is funny, strange, and vulnerable all kind of mixed together, so this is sort of my sweet spot."

"Yes. People are returning to things that really matter. Honesty. Kindness. Altruism. Living a true and honest life that doesn’t have anything to do with the outside of things, but the interior, the inner world. It’s not about materialism, but heart."

"I’ve always had faith in the goodwill of others, I feel like a really lucky person to be able to have a second act based on merit and perseverance more than anything else."

"Everyone is delighted to be doing what they’re doing and they’re doing it at a very high level. When people have great talent and great vision, and they are good and kind a generous and empowering, it’s infectious."

"“I told everyone I knew. No one said, Hey, this is sexual harassment. You should go to the authorities. You have a case. You should go to the police."

"I actually thought it would end my career for good and I’d never work again. There haven’t really been whistle-blowers before that who continued to work. If you look at people who brought these accusations forward, they were not believed and they were shunned."

"I want to affect change. I like to advocate. I like to influence legislative change, and I have helped pass more than 10 laws."

"It’s been one of the greatest acting challenges of my life,"