In a recent interview with The Christian Century, renowned journalist Bill Moyers took up the contentious question of religion and politics.

When asked what role religion should play in public life, Moyers responded with a question of his own. "Whose religion?" he asked. "And who is going to decide?" he pressed, after listing only a few of the many religions represented in the United States.

"The religion of one," Moyers responded, "seems madness to another."

We cannot maintain a healthy separation of church and state if adherents of the majority religious group get to decide that their faith – or, rather, their interpretation of their faith -- should be America's gold standard of politics and morality.

Religion will naturally shape people's worldview and influence their political decisions, but Moyers advised caution.

"Naturally, believers will bring their faith into the public square, translating their unique personal experience into political convictions and moral arguments. But politics is about settling differences while religion is about maintaining them. Let's realize what a treasure we have in a secular democracy that guarantees your freedom to believe as you choose and mine to vote as I wish.," Moyers told the venerable mainline Protestant magazine.

Moyers also bemoaned the Democratic Party's apparent need to be more explicitly religious. In recent months Democratic candidates have tried to reach out to religious voters by quoting the Bible, playing up their own piety and attending religious events and Sunday sermons.

Observed Moyers, "If you have to talk about God to win elections, that doesn't speak well of God or elections. We are desperate today for cool thinking and clear analysis. What kind of country is it that wants its politicians to play tricks with faith?"

It's an excellent question, and one every American should consider as we head into the 2008 election season.

Moyers has a new series on PBS. His documentary, Buying the War, about the media's role in the buildup to the Iraq War, airs tonight on PBS stations nationwide.