Wendy Gritter:

Living as incarnational people among our neighbors, including those who are very different than we are and those on the margins, embodies a sense of mutuality.  Incarnational people don't "help" others - they identify with them.  Incarnational people don't consider what others deserve - they extend dignity and respect to them simply on the basis of our shared image-bearing of God.  Incarnational people remember the words of Desmond Tutu, "If I diminish you ... I diminish myself."  And so they live in a manner that is relationally present and open to all they come in contact with.

"Confronting Straight Privilege"

Jon Stewart:

Democrats always seem to have to prove to America that they love America.  Republicans love America.  They just seem to hate about 50 percent of the people who live in it.

Sarah Schulman:

The final ironic twist is that whenever a situation does arise in which homophobia is pointed to as being socially destructive or personally wrong, the homophobe tends to actually blame his own behavior on gay people themselves.

Ties That Bind, p. 26

Annie Dillard:

On plenty of days the writer can write three or four pages, and on plenty of other days he concludes he must throw them away.

The Writing Life, p. 14

Ricky Martin:

We come from a society that tells us that just because of their religion, people are good or bad.  We load ourselves up with prejudices and cultural stigmas that are based on what?  On nothing.  We have been taught to fear anyone who is different from us...  Why?  Because of sheer ignorance.

Me, p. 168

Linford Detweiler:

As for your tender heart, this world's gonna break it wide open; it ain't gonna be pretty, but you're not alone.

"All My Favorite People"

Frank Schaeffer:

To reject portions of the Bible is not necessarily to reject God or even the essence of Christianity.  A great deal of the Bible is contradicted by the Love that predates it and, more importantly, survives in you and me.  And that Love edits the Bible for us.

Sex, Mom, and God, p. 87

Desmond Tutu:

If I diminish you ... I diminish myself.

Sarah Schulman:

Success is opportunity at one's level of merit.  More than that is privilege, less is deprivation.

Ties That Bind, p. 169

Larry King:

Lenny [Bruce]'s humor was really about the way he used his intelligence to turn the world upside down so it could be seen clearly.

Truth Be Told, p. 204

Soren Kierkegaard:

Christ turned water into wine, but the church has succeeded in doing something even more difficult: it has turned wine into water.

Ricky Martin:

Even though I felt I had lost hope, everything in my life was aligning to bring me to this exact point of desperation in order to incite me to ask questions and find answers I would have never imagined.

Me, p. 160