Jerry,

I believe in the Separation of Church and State. I believe with Jefferson when he says,
" I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." He went on to say,"The blasphemy and absurdity of the five points of Calvin, and the impossiblity of defending them, render their advocates impatient of reasoning, irritable and prone to denunciation."

Jefferson was persecuted by the Theocratic Fascists of his day and denounced as an "anti-Christ", "French infidel", "a howling atheist".
Does this remind anyone of today?

It's interesting that Bill Clinton's middle name was Jefferson and he also was hounded by the Christo-fascists.

I believe in Jefferson's ideal, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion"…………

As much as I like Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo,
I am concerned about a Religious Left because is leaves non-believers out of the dialogue.

Washington has this to say about Christianity.
In the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796 (article 11)
"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion…….."and he goes on to state that the U.S. has never entered into a war or emnity toward Mohammedanism (Muslims).

I believe that the Left must be open to all persuasions, believer and non-believer and not co-opted by religious Christian fanatics that are found today among the so-called Right.

Dr. King found that many African-Americans were turned off by a Christian orientation in the Civil Rights Movement.

Ghandi was a Hindu (though some Christians thought him more Christian than most Christians) and Jesus was a Palestinian Jew.

Therefore, Left or Right, religion should be separated from politics as stated in the Constitution. That doesn't mean that politically aware people need to give up their religion but it must not be overarching as to diminish other forms some of which may be secular.

Sydney Carter wrote a song about George Fox, founder of the Quakers. A line reads:
"'Will you swear on the Bible, I will not', said he. For the Truth is as holy as the Book to me."

Why should the truth be restricted to any particular persuasion, religious or not?

Frank