Booman Tribune recently wrote on the matter of separation of Church and State.

Booman says:

In fact, any political belief that is primarily motivated by your religion is inherently suspect. This is never more true than when your particular political belief (that is based on your religion) is highly sectarian in nature.

He then clarified:

If your opposition to the use of contraception is based on adherence to the teaching of the Vatican, then you are attempting to proscribe a behavior based on a very narrow basis. You can be as sincere as a heart attack, but you are still trying to impose religious beliefs that are largely particular to your sect on to a population that does not share that belief. In fact, you are attempting to impose laws on people that even most of your co-religionists don't agree with.

The crux of Booman's argument is that a man cannot go into Congress and extol Congress to manifest the "Will of God."  In this I am in agreement. It is reasonable. It behooves us as Muslims, member of a very minority faith in this country, nowhere near as profligate and powerful as the Christian Right, to abstain from engaging in religious competition. We will always lose. In Western politics -- which is the only politics that matter since the West is where we live -- it is in our interest to keep things neutral, and even, non-religious. Otherwise we may be put in a position to adopt the religious requirements and worldviews of a religion we have no interest in following. This "neutrality" exists to protect religions-not-in-power from the horrifying monster that is a state run by one particular religion in religion.  We have seen first hand, and lived first hand, through a state run by one particular religion (Bush's Christian Evangelical). Is that something minority religions wish to see enacted again? In a religious free for all Christian Fundamentalism will always win. It is 40 - 80 million strong.

Muslims, and many other religious people on the left, take offense from this statement: "In fact, any political belief that is primarily motivated by your religion is inherently suspect."

Please note, the issue is whether one may EXPLICITLY couch his desire to see particular legislation in RELIGIOUS terms. This is not allowed. What is NOT disallowed is for a person's entire worldview to BE informed by religion.

If, in the event that I am every elected to Congess -- and I will have Senatorial aspirations one day -- I will propose a lot of legislation that is consistent with my Islamic worldview. However, what I will not do, is state that the legislation ought to be adopted because it is the Will of God.