Sen. McCain’s unfortunate comments reflect a common but wrong belief (shared with about 55 percent of the American public) that the U.S. Constitution establishes a Christian nation.

The Constitution is a decidedly secular document. Yes, many of the Founders were men of faith and mostly Christian, but they opted to ensure religious liberty for all, not ensconce their own religious views in the nation’s founding document. When it comes to religion, our Constitution is not a religious document but a religious freedom document. The U.S. may be a Christian nation sociologically, but not constitutionally. That fact is easy to demonstrate. Living up to the religious freedom values embodied in the Constitution and not giving preference to the Christian majority is more difficult.

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First, an important disclaimer: I am not a scholar of world religions. Though I work daily to help ensure religious liberty for all faiths, I am most familiar with the Christian tradition. But, yes, I believe the major world religions — at their best — embody the principles of love, compassion and forgiveness.

To this general acquiescence in the Dali Lama’s observation, I offer several caveats.

Acknowledging that the major world religions incorporate these basic values — love, compassion and forgiveness — is not to say that all religions are the same or to gloss over significant differences among them. A watered-down, lowest-common denominator view of religion to support the idea that one religion is about as good as the next is a mistake. To concede similarities and commonalities among religions should not lead us to obscure the differences.

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