Study on Religion

A recent Brookings Institution study condemns secularism as providing an inadequate foundation for democracy in America. It was the first time the think tank had sponsored a study on religion. Through religion, the study says, "human rights are rooted in the moral worth with which a loving Creator has endowed each human soul, and social authority is legitimized by making it answerable to transcendent moral law." The study rejects the argument that strict separation of church and state is needed. "A society that excludes religion totally from its public life, that seems to regard religion as something from which public life must be protected, is bound to foster the impression that religion is either irrelevant or harmful," the study says. Authored by James Reichley, the three-year study came as a surprise to those accustomed to the Brookings Institution's liberal bent on social issues. Reichley, a former editor of Fortune magazine, is a member of the Presbyterian Church(U.S.A.).