There were separate events in the same area. One was in a church where Obama was addressing a bunch of church-goers and spoke of his beliefs. The other was on the Pettus Bridge, the site of the historic Selma voting rights march. There is nothing inconsistent in saying that it was logical for Obama to be preaching while in church, if he is a religous man, and that Edwards ought IMO to have appeared for the march on the bridge. I am all for separation of church and state, but if a candidate who is a christian is invited to preach in a church, what is the big deal?

Don't you understand that a big problem the Democrats have had is the false perception Republicans put across in general elections that one party respects religion in peoples' lives and the other does not. If Democratic candidates are not to get near a church with a ten foot pole and say a word about the bible, or even their own beliefs lest it be a violation of separation of church and state, how do you fight that kind of perception? Also black communities/culture are still more church and religion-driven now than many white communities are anymore, that is just a fact. Historically, african americans haven't had much reason to trust the government, so the institution they hold more belief in is their local church. So when you court the black vote, you go to church and pay your respects. You don't have to believe what they, or any christian believes, but you better show up there and respect their institutions. That is all Obama and Hillary were doing.

Yet you blast Obama for going there. What, you think he should have stood outside the church, a good fifty feet away, and handed out leaflets? Obama is not saying he wants a theocracy. He is saying we do not get anywhere by disrespecting, as opposed to embracing the beliefs people have. If he doesn't go to a black church in Selma, its like you'd feel if he didn't come to your state. You'd say "What's he saying, we're a backwater full of hicks?" You'd feel disrespected. Those people in that church feel the same way about their church as you do about being southern. It is a part of who they are, and they want it respected. Just as you don't want your heritage or area of the country put down by northerners.

Obama was saying he respects them, and that their beliefs can be part of his larger message, just as your beliefs can be part of that message too. A good campaign should be like making a quilt, getting patches of fabric from the different parts of the community and making it into one thing that represents us all. Obama is a universalist (read his first book), he believes we are all part of a great whole, like this giant quilt. He wants you to be a part of that quilt. He wants that church and the church goers in Selma to be part of that quilt. When that quilt is put together, we all share equally in it. I wanted Obama to go to that church, and I want him to appear at an ACLU event and a NOW event and at rallies of atheists and agnostics. I don't want him to give more weight to those church-goers in Selma than me, but I don't want him to give them less either. You should want him to go to them and give them respect, just as you want to be shown that same respect yourself. And you should not fear it when he shows respect to others. You should embrace it.