"Ellison, like Lambert, saw Allen's courtship as an opportunity. "If he loses, I'm losing my only White House connection," Ellison complained as he stood by the bar at Allen's "victory" party. "This has turned into a political nightmare." "

Much as having Allen in VA politics has been a nightmare, what's equally disturbing is how many churches and religious leaders get in the political mix. I have a feeling that a lot of churches should have their tax-exempt status taken away.

Harpazo,

Your arguments make no sense. All your examples either pre-date the actual founding of the American governement or use a few personal comments of the framers of a constitution; comments that stayed personal and weren’t relayed in the constitution. Considering that the bible supported slavery (among many other terrible things) I sincerely doubt the principles of the founding of the government actually come from the bible; and who says they have to? Seems more like common sense to me; otherwise you would’ve probably seen something more like the governments that were in Europe at the time. The truth is that, supported by recorded history as fact; religon has no place ruling people and that there should be no religious test for politicians. Religon playing a major part in the governing of people usually brought about the opposite of freedom. It should not play such a large part of the nomination/election process that it does. I for one would like to see someone elected based on their true good character, experience and promise and not on intolerant smoke and mirrors that appeases just a portion of the country (like Huckabee and Romney). Mr. Conason and most of the responders to his piece are not intolerant but rightfully speaking out against intolerance and a serious problem that affects us today especially given the position of power these men have been in, and quite possibly, could be.