Steve Jobs’ Faith and Politics

I read an excellent article, “Information Age Icon,” by James Heiser, in the December 19, 2011 issue of The New American magazine. The article was a book review of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Jobs was the co-founder and former C.E.O. of Apple, Inc.
.

Heiser said that the book “reveals a man driven by personal demons.” Apparently Jobs rejected Christianity and God because he could not reconcile why God would permit suffering such as starving children in Africa in the world. He spend years studying Buddhism. But he died still not sure that there was life after death. Here is a brief excerpt from the article and the book that sheds some insight into the man:
.

There is something that arouses pity when one witnesses such indecision remaining in a man who purportedly devoted so much of his life to seeking transcendent truth. Steve Jobs was profoundly insightful when he came to matters of combining worldly beauty and useful function, and was prepared to vociferously defend his vision for the future of technology; sadly, it appears that he remained of a far less fixed opinion when pondering matters of eternal significance.
.

Demand for Excellence
.

However, despite such a profound equivocation regarding matters of eternal significance, Jobs’ demand for excellence and precision in this world led the middle-aged political liberal to confront Barack Obama, a President who is arguably the most leftwing president in American history. In the fall of 2010, Jobs bluntly told Obama in a face-to-face meeting: “You’re headed for a one-term presidency.” As Isaacson explains:
. 

He described how easy it was to build a factory in China, and said that it was almost impossible to do so these days in America, largely because of regulations and unnecessary costs.
.

Jobs also attacked America’s education system, saying that it was hopelessly antiquated and crippled by union work rules. Until the teachers’ unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform. Teachers should be treated as professionals, he said, not as industrial assembly-line workers. Principals should be able to hire and fire them based on how good they were.