The world lost one of its best and brightest when Huston Smith died in December of last year. I love him because he helped me appreciate the great insight and wisdom of religion. (I said "religion.") Huston Smith was always clear that religions have much corruption and negativity mixed in with the good, true, and beautiful, but bad art does not give all art a bad name; nor does bad music give all music a bad name, etc. Why should bad religion give all religion a bad name?I have been reading and re-reading Huston Smith's book, _The World's Religions_, since the 1970s, and it's still an excellent---maybe the best---introduction to the philosophical study of religion and religions. For those who want to cynically write off all religion as bad, Smith's life's work is curative. I would also recommend Ross Douthat's book, _Bad Religion_, which sets us the task of separating the wheat from the chaff, so that we can identify, appreciate, and implement the best religious influences in our (individual and collective) lives. In brief, there is good religion, and there is good that we can only get from religion.

such a gem

Orange Sunshine brother!