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Quote of the Day (So Far!)

9:27 AM, Dec 14, 2007 • By MATTHEW CONTINETTI
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You will definitely want to read Charles Krauthammer's column today on religion in public life:

In this country, there is no special political standing that one derives from being a Christian leader like Mike Huckabee or a fervent believer like Mitt Romney. Just as there should be no disability or disqualification for political views that derive from religious sensibilities, whether the subject is civil rights or stem cells.

This is pretty elementary stuff. I haven't exactly invented hot water here. The very rehearsing of these arguments seems tiresome and redundant.

But apparently not in the campaign of 2008. It's two centuries since the passage of the First Amendment and our presidential candidates still cannot distinguish establishment from free exercise.

What has caused such confusion? Is it that the number of religious conservatives is growing, and like any expanding group wants to transform its numbers into political power? Or is it the opposite, is it that religious conservatives feel under threat from the growing (if still small) number of secularists-agnostics-atheists-people with no religion? It may be both, of course. Which suggests that the fight between the two groups - and political expressions of religiosity - won't end any time soon.

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