Campaign 2000: Whose Bully Pulpit Now?

When politics and piety mix, the real question is less what candidates say than what they plan to do

It wasn't any one note Joe Lieberman struck that set the separation-of-church-and-state watchdogs growling. It was the whole sacred symphony. Sure, he began his maiden speech last month with a prayer and some Scripture, but no one wanted to pounce the moment the first Jewish national candidate mentioned God. That was before he cited George Washington's admonition last week to never suppose that "morality can be maintained without religion"--as if agnostics, atheists and secular humanists are by definition immoral--and called for the nation to renew its dedication to "God and God's purpose."

"When it reaches a certain crescendo, you know it,"...

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