Home > Work > On Faith: Lessons from an American Believer
1 " My father made no such division between faith and reason. He understood that the act of faith does not mean the end of thought. "
― Antonin Scalia , On Faith: Lessons from an American Believer
2 " Dad also treasured the Church’s beauty. Some years ago, then-Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) observed that one of the most convincing demonstrations of the Catholic Church’s truth is “the beauty that the faith has generated.” That statement by a man of such intellectual standing might surprise us because we tend to associate beauty with feelings and not with truth. "
3 " A separation of church and state was more politically needful in the American republic than elsewhere, because of the sheer diversity of religious views. (A prominent French judge once explained to me the essential difference between France and the United States as follows: France has two religions and three hundred cheeses; the United States has two cheeses and three hundred religions.) But perhaps more than any other principle of American government, that one—the separation of church and state—has swept the Western world. I hope you will excuse my cynicism if I believe that the "
4 " Anyone who worked with him will recall the moment when his face softened into a knowing smile. It was the moment he thought he had the answer. That smile was the same smile he wore when he wrote an opinion that wrote itself. He loved the truth, and his smile betrayed the peace and joy he found in its pursuit. "
