Well I suppose we can say the cup is half-empty or half-full.

The new Pew study sheds light on religious affiliation in America. We learn that nearly 25% of Americans now switch their religious affiliation over the course of their lifetime. And that just as one of the most rapidly growing political constituencies in this nation is the "Independents," so too do we find that the "Unaffiliateds" are growing as rapidly in religious circles.

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In the last chapter of the early 1st century rabbinic work, Mishnah Yoma, Rabbi Akiva is teaching about the public purification rituals related to the Yom Kippur holy day.

Rabbi Akiva quotes the prophet Jeremiah, who had preceded him by several centuries, and taught that atonement is like being cleaned through the sprinkling of "clean water," which in Hebrew is the word "mikvah" or ritual bath often used to transform important life moments according to Jewish law. Of interest to Akiva, additionally, is that the Hebrew word for "hope" is also "mikvah."

Thus, he teaches, "just as the mikvah cleans the unclean, so does the Holy One give Israel hope."

An important concept is promulgated here--that engaging in the activity of ritual is equalized to the emotional or intellectual relationship to the activity. That is to say, "hope" is as crucial to the atoning moment as immersion in the ritual bath itself. This is an important step forward for the early rabbis in their move from a Biblical to Rabbinic Judaism.

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It seems pretty clear to me that one of American democracy's enduring gift to the world is our notion of a Constitutionally separate view of Church-State relations. It's a relationship that is, ironically, sacred. And it should remain that way.

Making an accommodation to Sharia Law or Jewish Law or Church Law of any variety should not be the business of elected officials. When we see such strategies employed in politics, they generally seem to be for two reasons: to keep the potential for conflict at bay or to infuse a debased secular political enterprise with morality.

In England and throughout Europe, we are witnessing a developing set of conflicts in the engagement with Islam--from dress to the application of religious law--and most decisions seem to be based upon a desire to keep the peace in the face of fears of radical Islam.

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I appreciate Mike Huckabee's candor, that's for sure. But it's hard to take him seriously. I guess that's the way I feel. Those Evangelicals who he supposedly represents are not really bowling over the political process thus far in the primary season, and therefore when he offers up one of his more ahistorical schemes like amending the Constitution so that it's written according to God's standards, I have an image in my mind of a late-night minister running a cable ministry rather than a serious candidate for President of the United States.

In other words, why get hysterical? I think all evidence points to the fact that as we hurdle toward February, the Republican Party is coalescing around Romney and McCain while the Democratic Party is coalescing around Clinton and Obama. Otherwise, we can't really be bothered.

The quirkiness of all other candidates aside, we're settling in to the real races as they'll unfold in the month ahead.

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