Thanks for your input. I don’t think this is the best forum to discuss Catholic vs evangelical issues but there does seem to be alot of opinions about religion in the public square. There also seems to be some confusion. While the domains of faith and reason are seperate, they do overlap.
For example, “Thou shall not kill” and “thou shall not steal” are articles of faith, being of course, 2 of the 10 commandments. Nevertheless, they are also inextricably bound to the Natural Moral Law. It is for this reason that any atheist will acknowledge the wrongfulness of murder and grand theft. To eliminate such laws from our legal system because they are religious would obviously destabilize society. In contrast, purely sectarian issues e.g. not eating hot dogs on Good Friday, should not be imposed on a pluralistic society since this is a particular discipline and not an intrinsic moral evil. It is unfortunate that more of our so called Catholic politicians don’t recognize this and their risk of hypocrisy. (hence my recommendation about Rice’s book)