“How do you reconcile the idea of faith being really important to you and you caring a lot about taking faith seriously with the fact that, at least in our democracy and our civic discourse, it seems as if folks who take religion the most seriously sometimes are also those who are suspicious of those not like them?” Obama asked during the interview, which was published Monday in the New York Review of Books…

Obama said that America’s greatness stems from a sense of “nagging dissatisfaction” that spurred settlers to move West, helped astronauts land on the moon and inspired the creation of the Internet. 

But he said Americans often take those achievements for granted, a mindset that fuels deep skepticism of government. 

“Whenever I hear people saying that our problems would be solved without government, I always want to tell them you need to go to some other countries where there really is no government, where the roads are never repaired … or kids don’t have access to basic primary education,” he said. “That’s the logical conclusion if, in fact, you think that government is the enemy.”