Peter West

“the more a Christian intentionally cultivates the joy of God in daily life, the more deeply embedded the joy of God will become in American civilization, through him.”
― Greg Forster, Joy for the World: How Christianity Lost Its Cultural Influence and Can Begin Rebuilding It

“Society needs to see it as normal and expected, not scary and threatening, when people have different beliefs about the universe—beliefs that are unspeakably precious to them and organize their whole lives. These unshared beliefs will create uncomfortable social tensions. Society must embrace these tensions as healthy and beneficial, rather than shying away from them in fear. Societies where people feel free to have disagreements about the meaning of life are strong and confident in themselves, as they need to be to thrive. Societies where people keep their uncomfortable disagreements hushed up for fear of what might happen if they were aired are weak and hollow. Look back through history and you see the same pattern.”
― Greg Forster, Joy for the World: How Christianity Lost Its Cultural Influence and Can Begin Rebuilding It

“One of the great dangers of our time is the illusion that moral obligations are somehow weaker if they’re not chosen. We are blessed with the freedom to make choices that people in most times and places don’t get to make. The special temptation of living in a society where we have personal liberties is the seductive idea that obligations are less binding, or not binding at all, if we came under them through birth or other circumstances beyond our control.”
― Greg Forster, Joy for the World: How Christianity Lost Its Cultural Influence and Can Begin Rebuilding It

“The society with lots of open disagreement and social conflict is the one surging with power in art, science, commerce, constructive social reform, and (most of all) religious revival; the hushed-up society where everyone is afraid to say what he thinks is on the brink of violence and collapse.”
― Greg Forster, Joy for the World: How Christianity Lost Its Cultural Influence and Can Begin Rebuilding It