Tim Keller on Secular New York

Pastor Tim Keller on religion in New York.

Question: How can living in New York inspire a turn toward faith?Keller:    When you come to a place like New York City, first of all, you are bombarded with people who are like you, only better.  So, you maybe the best violinist in [Hot Coffee], Texas and you get off the train in Penn Station, and, to your horror, there is somebody out there begging, you know, playing the violin and she's better than you, and so that makes you just dig down deep and just practice, practice, practice.  So, you see, all these people who are like you, the second thing in New York City, a place like New York gives you is tons of people who are so unlike you and they differ with you and they see things very differently and they bombard you with objections and arguments and questions and that makes you really either come up with a better rational for what you want to do than you ever would have gotten before, or it makes you incorporate new ideas.  And so the diversity, you have so many people like you and so many people unlike you that it creates better enterprises.  It's a hot house for coming up with new models and new ideas and I think actually New York made me a far better minister.  I don't think it has to make you secular.  I think it can make you more Orthodox, but you'll be different.

Question: How can living in New York inspire a turn toward faith?Keller:    When you come to a place like New York City, first of all, you are bombarded with people who are like you, only better.  So, you maybe the best violinist in [Hot Coffee], Texas and you get off the train in Penn Station, and, to your horror, there is somebody out there begging, you know, playing the violin and she's better than you, and so that makes you just dig down deep and just practice, practice, practice.  So, you see, all these people who are like you, the second thing in New York City, a place like New York gives you is tons of people who are so unlike you and they differ with you and they see things very differently and they bombard you with objections and arguments and questions and that makes you really either come up with a better rational for what you want to do than you ever would have gotten before, or it makes you incorporate new ideas.  And so the diversity, you have so many people like you and so many people unlike you that it creates better enterprises.  It's a hot house for coming up with new models and new ideas and I think actually New York made me a far better minister.  I don't think it has to make you secular.  I think it can make you more Orthodox, but you'll be different.