President Bush was widely ridiculed for consulting the Reverend Billy Graham before the Gulf war.

I have no doubt that the real irritation of those on the religious right is not that their particular creed is not embraced by the schools, but that often their creed is the only one singled out for contempt.

People of good character are not all going to come down on the same side of difficult political and social issues. Good people - people of character and moral literacy - can be conservative, and good people can be liberal. We must not permit our disputes over thorny political questions to obscure the obligation we have to offer instruction to all our young people in the area in which we have, as a society, reached a consensus: namely, on the importance of good character, and some of its pervasive particulars.

Have we come to the point where it is now considered a secular blasphemy to acknowledge the name of God at all?

The elementary school must assume as its sublime and most solemn responsibility the task of teaching every child in it to read. Any school that does not accomplish this has failed.

It is our character that supports the promise of our future - far more than particular government programs or policies.

What you've got here is really a case of journalists making fun of people who believe in God and the devil.