When Rabbi Lerner (of Tikkun fame) brought his Network of Spiritual Progressives to DC two years ago, what drew me most to the movement he was starting was his giving a voice to the Religious Left. For too long the "battle lines" for the "soul" of America had been drawn along the Religious Right and the Secular Left. (For the purposes of exposition here, "Secular" refers to those who are hostile to religion. The writer recognizes that there are other meanings.) The Religious Right claimed it was moral. In other words, if you didn't agree with their conservative views you were immoral. The Secular Left claimed it was intelligent. In other words, if you believed in God and/or belonged to organized religion you were stupid.

What was a liberal and rather highly-educated God-loving church lady like me supposed to to do?

The truth is that neither of these groups are big enough to represent half of the U.S. According to the latest Pew report, those who identify as atheist/agnostic/secular unaffiliated still make up little more than 10% of the population. And to quote a button that I used to wear, the "Moral Majority" is neither. While I concede their ingenious bit of branding, Falwell's "Moral Majority" was highly vocal and politically organized but never a majority of the U.S. population.

So then, if the Religious Right and the Secular Left make up but part of our population... If the U.S. in reality is far more varied, with Secular Conservatives and Religious Liberals and all sorts of people in between... why do we perceive the "battle lines" drawn this way? Partly because these are the two most vocal groups. Partly because the Religious Right chose the Secular Left as its target, exaggerating their significance. And partly because the media likes to frame things that way.

Enter Faithful America. Operated by Faith in Public Life (of which my boss is a board member), Faithful America tells us that tv network exit polls are reinforcing the idea that only conservatives are religious. The presidential primary polls are asking Republican voters more questions on religion than Democratic voters, and in some cases ignoring Democrats' religion entirely. (I imagine the Kennedy family would be surprised to learn that their faith doesn't count.)

In science we had a saying, "You tend to find what you're looking for." If the media starts with the assumption that only conservatives are religious and pursues its questions along that line, it will find answers that support its assumption. And so on.

We, the Religious Left, have been quiet for too long. We need to make some noise and represent.