officer in the church, it s not necessary for the country and ronald reagan very rarely went to church though he did invoke spiritualism a lot. is that point valid that we don t need a president to be seen in a church atmosphere? here, i think we have to make an important distinction. i think if you look at american history, we have had a number of presidents whose religion os city was a little bit dubious going back to jefferson. even lincoln was quite unorthodox in his beliefs. but, on the other hand, i think that these men, nevertheless, had a very powerful sense of the transcendent, of the prof denel role of america. as you listen to lincoln s speech he speaks of america as having divinely appointed destiny. this is not the appointed religious belief. this is the articulation of an idea of america anchored in transcendent principles. that s really the issue is obama in touch with the very important part of the american religious and political tradition. bill: it s impossible to
officer in the church, it s not necessary for the country and ronald reagan very rarely went to church though he did invoke spiritualism a lot. is that point valid that we don t need a president to be seen in a church atmosphere? here, i think we have to make an important distinction. i think if you look at american history, we have had a number of presidents whose religion os city was a little bit dubious going back to jefferson. even lincoln was quite unorthodox in his beliefs. but, on the other hand, i think that these men, nevertheless, had a very powerful sense of the transcendent, of the prof denel role of america. as you listen to lincoln s speech he speaks of america as having divinely appointed destiny. this is not the appointed religious belief. this is the articulation of an idea of america anchored in transcendent principles. that s really the issue is obama in touch with the very important part of the american religious and political tradition. bill: it s impossible to