I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, to take one example, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I can’t simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God’s will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

_{–Barack Obama ( Professor of constitutional law)}

“That [the foregoing quotation] is a fruitcake interpretation of the constitution.”

_{—James Dobson (Religious political agitator)}

“Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance. And I have no doubt that every new example, will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.”

_{— James Madison (Principal author of the US constitution)}