I also don't have organized religion on Pern. I figured - since there were four holy wars going on at the time of writing - that religion was one problem Pern didn't need.

Oh there's going to be debate because you're dealing with the Bible and religion is supposed to be separate from state and that to me is already a conflict before it even hits the gay issue.

I am a Westerner. We're not going to change the West by going East. The East has a lot to teach us but essentially it's like a mirror saying hey can't you see what's here in your own religion what are you stupid?

I know one thing: There are a billion Islamic people in the world today and there will be about 2 billion by the time we're dead. They're not going to give up their religion.

I am not going to condemn anybody. That's where religion gets a bad name when people get holier than thou. We are all human. If my children make a mistake I want them to know it is all right and they should try harder next time.

As long as there are religions there are going to be people who are hiding their rottenness behind the veil of religion.

You're always going to have extremists in every religion.

I was 21 in 1968 so I'm as much a child of the '60s as is possible to be. In those years the subject of religion had really almost disappeared the idea that religion was going to be a major force in the life of our societies in the West anyway would have seemed absurd in 1968.

I also like to look at the dynamic that takes place between religion and science because in a way both are asking the same questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? The methodologies are diametrically opposed but their motivation is the same the wellspring is the same in both cases.

If I were going to convert to any religion I would probably choose Catholicism because it at least has female saints and the Virgin Mary.

Islam is a violent I was going to say religion but it's not a religion. It's a political system. It's a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination. That is the ultimate aim.

Religion is not going to come up with any new arguments.

When push comes to shove it ain't the science that's going to lift you up-it's the belief the spiritual side of life that's going to lift you up no matter what religion you are.

A man has no religion who has not slowly and painfully gathered one together adding to it shaping it and one's religion is never complete and final it seems but must always be undergoing modification.

Afghanistan is going to be here a long time and what's critical is that Afghanistan's relationship with its neighbors are to the maximum extent they can be constructive and operationally useful.

I was writing short films and I was going through this really really really terrible end of a relationship that I didn't want to be going through. It was too much for me to process and all of a sudden I had this idea for my first feature film and I knew right away I had to start writing it.

I'm a hopeless romantic and very much the person in a relationship to go: If things are going well I'll buy the flowers remember the dates of things plan fun nights out.

It was a good 15 or 20 years before anyone at Rand would be in the same room with me. They didn't want the question raised 'What's your relationship with Daniel Ellsberg?' And not one of them wrote me a letter because they didn't want a letter of theirs to show up in my trash - which the FBI had been going through.

Growing up training I use to get up so early I would wave to the garbage men going by. So I had this relationship with Blue Collar America and I really liked it. I felt that lots of those people looked forward to me winning.

I'm open-minded. I don't consider myself gay or hetero I just am. I've had experiences all over the planet but it always comes down to just me but I think at this point if I had an ongoing relationship I believe it would be with a man.

As much as the mystery element is all a lot of fun when you do go to 'Edwin Drood ' you're going to a theatre to see a show about going to a theatre and what that relationship between actors and audiences has been for years.

I think that the two of them have been doing this for a really long time and it is more like sport. Yes they would love to find a lasting relationship but it's not likely to happen the way they are going about it.

When I was in my 30s I was at the end of a long-term relationship and going through a very hard time. I'd had about 15 different addresses and a series of relationships. I thought 'It's time to have a look at yourself.'

I don't remember any sibling rivalry growing up because by the time I was really conscious Tom was going away to college. My relationship with him which is a very close one really developed in more recent years.