“It is now illegal in the United States to perform genital alteration on female minors, no matter how minimal the surgery or how safe and sanitary the procedure. Newborn male genital alteration, however, is an accepted procedure in the United States.”

“One of the most popular genital surgeries is labia minora reduction. When a similar procedure is performed on healthy girls in some African countries as a coming-of-age rite to control their sexuality, Westerners denounce it as genital mutilation; in the U.S. of A., it's called cosmetic enhancement. But both procedures are based on misogynist notions of female genitalia as ugly, dirty, and shameful. And though American procedures are generally performed under vastly better conditions (with the benefit of, say, anesthesia and antibiotics), the postsurgical results can be similarly horrific, involving loss of sensation, chronic pain, and infection.”

“I also argue that sin (or at least our thinking about it) has evolved significantly since the 1950s and continues to do so, such that Fidel Castro’s confident cri de Coeur from the early 1960’s, “History will absolve me,” could work today for a great many religious Jews and Christians wrestling with their conscience.”

“It is a bad idea to fixate on the wedding day while neglecting the rest of a marriage in which an initial virgin may stray into illicit beds. A onetime sexual tiger who becomes monogamous ( through sheer force of will or love) in marriage may deserve quite a bit more applause than the wedding-day virgin who later strays.”

“Now be it known, That I John Adams, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said Treaty do, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and every clause and article thereof. And to the End that the said Treaty may be observed, and performed with good Faith on the part of the United States, I have ordered the premises to be made public; And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office civil or military within the United States, and all other citizens or inhabitants thereof, faithfully to observe and fulfill the said Treaty and every clause and article thereof.”

“...a dream isn't a wish - it's an altered state of consciousness ...”

“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”