Principles are what people have instead of God. To be a Christian means among other things to be willing if necessary to sacrifice even your highest principles for God's or your neighbour's sake the way a Christian pacifist must be willing to pick up a baseball bat if there's no other way to stop a man from savagely beating a child. Jesus didn't forgive his executioners on principle but because in some unimaginable way he was able to love them. 'Principle' is an even duller word than 'Religion'.

You can sincerely believe there is no God and live as though there is. " The Magnificent Defeat
"It is as impossible for man to demonstrate the existence of God as it would be for even Sherlock Holmes to demonstrate the existence of Arthur Conan Doyle.

Born July 11 1926 in New York City he is an ordained Presbyterian minister and the author of more than thirty publiFrederick Buechnerd books thus far. " He has been a finalist for the National Book Award Presented by the National Book Foundation and the Pulitzer Prize and has been awarded eight honorary degrees from such institutions as Yale University and the Virginia Theological Seminary. He has been called "Major talent" and "…a very good writer indeed" by the New York Times and "one of our most original storytellers" by USA Today.