I believe that religion, at its best, gives us the vocabulary to express experiences that are beyond words. They spill over into music, song, art, poetry, and ritual. At the largest moments of our lives, we can feel disoriented by experiences for which we have no context; extreme loss or love, the birth of a child or the shock of illness. Religion can give us a connection to countless generations who have shared those experiences. It can give us a connection to something larger, outside ourselves.

Religious institutions can offer a social fabric that is often missing in modern life. There is no other place I can think of where you find a single room filled with families, children, elderly, across ways of life, incomes, and all sharing equal parts in one purpose.