“I'm a writer of faith who worries about the intolerance of religion. I look at the past and fear we haven't learned from it. I believe that humanity is capable of evil as well as great acts of courage and goodness. I have hope. Deep down, I believe in the human spirit, although sometimes that belief”

“Raised by an irresponsible mother during the Great Depression in the Jim Crow south, my father was on his own from the age of 13.”