You are a hero of mine, and I have great hopes for your future in American politics. I know the speech you made yesterday about religion was intended to generate positive discussion and make people of faith feel more welcome in progressive politics. Those are both good things.
But I was really troubled by your suggestion that democrats are wrong to question the role of religion in the public square. You are right that many democrats are uncomfortable with mixing religion and politics. But that's not because they are intolerant or hostile to religion. It's because injecting religion in politics has a great potential for causing harm, fueling divisions and reducing the quality of democratic life and discourse. That makes many people, including many people of faith, uncomfortable. If you want to discuss the future of religion in the public square you have to be willing to discuss the dangers of mixing politics and religion. Otherwise, this issue will only divide us.
