A reasonable opinion piece about the role religion plays in politics. I applaud the author's attempt to draw a line between appropriate and inappropriate uses of faith in the political arena. Though I worry about statements like "it's not worth spending a whole lot of effort worrying about [people who would impose their religion on us] ... because there aren't that many of them and they just aren't very powerful." As much as I wish this were true, I'm afraid this statement doesn't match reality as we know it, in the age of tele-evangelists and mega-churches.

Nice statement of how religion could influence politics in a fair and constructive way.

A good article. presents very lucid arguments, not so much for secularism, but at least discussion, free speech and democracy.

Unfortunately, too many athiests try to define democracy as debates and laws void of religion. Let the people decide. Let the athiest and faithful cast their votes together, without denying either the right to do so. That's democracy. Democracy means that the people decide. If the people decide to encorporate a religious principle, such as "Love thy Neighbor", then that's their right. If they decide to define marraige as between a man and a woman, and the people's vote sustain it, then that's their right as well. One of the misfortunes of some religions in America is the removal, or denial, of challenging the principles of that religion. But not all religions teach this limiting principle. Some religions encourage its members ... More »