It's a sad indication of where Washington has come where policy differences almost necessarily become questions of integrity. I came to Washington in the late '70s and people had the ability in the past to have intense policy differences but didn't feel the need to question the other person's character.

The question I love to get asked is: 'What's the hardest part of your job?' And literally the answer is probably real sad but it's to just to be me. Like it's really hard because I think people you know have a set idea of what a pop star should be.

Shooting a film is like a kismet quest. You have thirty days and you need magic to happen. So that's why I wear suits. I'm praying to the gods and I'm doing everything I can to respect the powers of the world.

The respect for human rights is nowadays not so much a matter of having international standards but rather questions of compliance with those standards.

I respect the president. He and I have a difference of opinion on how to help the country we both love. But the question each of us wants the voters to answer is who will be the better president not who is the better American.

Facts matter. Science matters. Reason matters. Mitt Romney has shown an inability to respect any of the three. President Barack Obama not only respects them he relies on them. He is an overwhelming and unquestioned choice to continue as president.

Civilisation has ever accompanied emigration and conquest - the conflict of opinion of religion or of race.

The question of religion was a matter for each individual's conscience and in a great many cases was the outcome of birth or residence in a certain geographical area.

I'm a modern Muslim. I pray and if I have a question I ask someone who is more educated in the religion than me.

I am fascinated with religion or things that people believe in and question that. I think it's interesting.

There was a time when someone would get on a plane and request to move their seat just because the person sitting next to them was of a different ethnicity or religion or nationality. But I don't think my generation wants that. That's how it used to be.

A lot of people have questioned how yoga and their own spiritual beliefs can come together. Yoga actually pre-dates religion.

Religion survives because it answers three questions that every reflective person must ask. Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live?

Religion is run by thought police. 'Obey. Listen. This is what you do. Don't ask questions. Go die for your country.' The spirituality says 'Okay you can die for your country but know what you're doing while you're doing it.'

Attacks on a politician's identity - questioning Romney's religion say or Obama's birthplace - tend to come when an opponent is desperate and can't sell himself.

What is especially important is addressing the question of how religion can be enforced through political means and what can be done to create a political environment that on the one hand acknowledges the role of religion in society while on the other hand does not impose one religion on the populace at the expense of all others.

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.