My faith sometimes burdens me with the responsibility to think very deeply and long and hard about the choices I make creatively. There are projects I turn down because the material is too much a violation of what I believe. But that’s true of anybody.
In Iran, education is not a given at all. For decades, in fact, the Iranian government has been systematically depriving members of the Baha’i faith their right to higher education, attempting to bar their advancement and marginalize them in Iranian society.
Compared to developed countries, or even to some major emerging countries, burdened by aging populations, financial crises, widening budget deficits, faltering faith in politics and growing social demands, Africa has become the world’s last ‘New Frontier:’ a kind of ‘it-continent.’
In the early ‘90s, I was disillusioned after the blasts and riots in Mumbai. I was in college and started thinking that religion was the root cause of all these evils. While my father told me not to blame religion because of a few bad people, I wasn’t convinced. The faith was restored after I started writing my first book.
Theatre’s great. It’s such an act of faith. It’s a wonderful art form where you suspend disbelief for a couple of hours. It’s a lovely art form because the actors and the audience are alive and in the room at the same time together. That’s why I love the theatre.
I’m a great mother because of my intentions on being a great mother; I’m a good friend because I’m loyal; I’m a good daughter because I’ve hopefully made my mother proud; I’m a great human being because I accept that there’s a spiritual being underneath it all. I’ve always been a woman of faith.
My mother has always instilled in us that we should carry ourselves with dignity despite the horror that came with the civil war. She also taught us that where you come from is very important because that’s what makes you who you are. So for me, whatever I’ve gone through had profoundly shaped me; it has given me strength and unwavering faith.
Hollywood, we get it. The Christian faith just doesn’t work for you ‘in the long run.’ However, for a large percentage of this country (the same country that makes your movies millions of dollars), it does. So please, for all of our sakes, keep your ‘beliefs to yourself’ and just ‘stop the hate.’
I lost my faith in God when I lost my daughter to Cancer, the beast. I begged, I cried, I offered my life for hers, and day by day, I watched that beautiful little Angel slip off. So, excuse me for not taking my seat next to you on Sunday in Church, I feel too cheated to worship.
In my career as an actor, there is a catchphrase that Scofield always says often in regards to his brother, ‘Have a little faith.’ In my own career as an actor, there were times when I was the only one who believed in myself in the face of the odds.
Faith is the most important thing in the world to me. It’s the greatest strength I’ve had. It’s helped me get through the hard times. You’re not going to win every one of your football games. I’ve always said I’m not going to make football my god. A lot of coaches put so much into coaching football games that they have nothing left.
I’m about 5.10, and my hair is the length of my whole body now. We grow our hair because of faith, but it’s getting heavy. Most of the rastas I know with hair my length are elders, and they keep it tied up, but for a young person who’s active and running around, the weight is a big thing. So to play sports, I put it in a backpack.
‘Grace’ is basically a death prayer. Not something of sorrow, but of just casting away any fear of death. No relief will come – you really just have to stew in your life until it’s time to go. But sometimes, somebody else’s faith in you can do wonders.
When I turned about 14, I developed a friendship with this guy whose mom was the secretary to Ernest Angley, the faith healer, who’s very popular in the Midwest. He had a television show, and he was sort of like Liberace mixed with Jerry Falwell – very glitzy, very high-tech.
I believe that the Framers of the Constitution made their intent clear when they wrote the First Amendment. I believe they wanted to keep the new government from endorsing one religion over another, not erase the public consciousness or common faith.
Actually, we chose the name Sun Cellular because we believe the name ‘Sun’ is bright, forward-looking and optimistic. It is my sincere hope that the whole Philippines will share our positive outlook, optimism and faith in the country’s future.
Among the other values children should be taught are respect for others, beginning with the child’s own parents and family; respect for the symbols of faith and the patriotic beliefs of others; respect for law and order; respect for the property of others; respect for authority.
Without moral progress, stimulated by faith in God, immorality in all its forms will proliferate and strangle goodness and human decency. Mankind will not be able to fully express the potential nobility of the human soul unless faith in God is strengthened.
We live in a country that sent people to the moon. This accomplishment, along with other bold leaps of faith, required political will, determination and imagination. Providing health care for all of our citizens requires the same force of will.
As a pastor in a Protestant church, my whole ministry centers on the conviction that by grace we are saved through faith. And it’s not our faith that delivers us, as if believing something, anything at all were pleasing to God. It’s the object of our faith – Christ’s life, death, and resurrection – that saves us.
My hope, my real hope, is that whatever you hold in your heart, whatever you truly believe, and you’ve put your faith in, that that’s what ‘s waiting for you. I think that’d be wonderful. You know what I mean? I think that would be the culmination of the life of the devout, or the believer.
These past years, as we have been recovering and given our city a rebirth, we have been encouraged by our faith, knowledge, and steadfast belief that we will pull through. There will be challenges and setbacks, as there have already been, but we will continue, and we the citizens of New Orleans will prevail in bringing our city back.
That’s who my mom is. She’s a listener and a doer. She’s a woman driven by compassion, by faith, by a fierce sense of justice and a heart full of love. So, this November, I’m voting for a woman who is my role model, as a mother, and as an advocate. A woman who has spent her entire life fighting for families and children.
I love the fact that we, as black people, carry our faith with us. We share it and embrace it and love it and talk about it because we talk about everything else and why not that and that was the first impression that I had that really touched me.
I am profoundly grateful that all of my life I have had a simple faith that Jesus is the Christ. That witness has been confirmed to me hundreds of times. It is the crowning knowledge of my soul. It is the spiritual light of my being. It is the cornerstone of my life.
