A Two Way Street

These days, when we talk about separation of church and state, it is usually in the context of arguing to elect officials who are neutral in their faith for fear that religious beliefs will impact legislation, that God should be eliminated from any rhetoric pertaining to the country (eg. the pledge of allegiance), prayer should be eliminated from schools, religious monuments should be removed from city properties, the list goes on and on....
So, I was a bit disturbed when I read about about a request made by House majority speaker Nancy Pelosi at the Nation's Catholic Community conference earlier this month. In her speech she said:

"The cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops that come to me and say, 'We want you to pass immigration reform,' and I said, 'I want you to speak about it from the pulpit. I want you to instruct your' -- whatever the communication is,"

and

"The people, some (who) oppose immigration reform, are sitting in those pews, and you have to tell them that this is a manifestation of our living the gospels,"

The clarification statement that her spokesperson gave wasn't any more comforting: "From health care to energy security to immigration reform, the speaker believes the faith community has played and will continue to play a critical role in our national debate." It's nice to know that Pelosi recognizes the faith community as being critical in national debate- and isn't afraid to use it.

Perhaps Pelosi has forgotten that separation of church and state is a two way street.