Sometimes people forget what an insulated environment this site is, & how in many ways it is not representative of national demographics, where elections happen. It was just earlier this year that we got some breakdown of USA religious demographics; IIRC 77% of people ID as some flavor of Christian. When we talk about electing more and better Democrats, 77% of the nation is a number to keep in mind, yes?
I understand how people feel about separation of church & state; I value our secular government & wish to keep it free of establishment of any religious doctrine, & if polled, every non-troll Kossack says the same. What is impossible to forget, however, is that there is no means by which we can legislate or ajudicate the motivation of the voter in the booth, & millions of them consider their religious beliefs over their civic obligations to consider candidates & policies on merits separate from those beliefs. This isn't a good thing, but it is reality.
We cannot legally separate church from state in the voter; we can do so only in the public, legal domain.
Politics operates within culture, as does religion. This is why people mix them up, & why the Constitution contains imperfect means to make religion distinct. It is difficult if not impossible for someone to separate religion from culture. They are largely the same thing, even more so in a nation with a demographically & thus culturally dominant religion. That's us, folks. That's why everything closes on Christmas. It isn't establishment of religion; it's establishment of culture.
At the religious center of this culture is the Bible, a mythologized, messily transcribed, variously edited history of real & mythic events, people, & concepts. It always has been, is, & will continue to be the subject of discussion, debate, argument, tension, etc. It's a great idea to keep this entity away from government, but it cannot be kept from culture, which cannot help but exert influence on government via the electorate.
This is why it's a great idea to instead do our best to influence the electorate with respect to the Bible whenever we have the chance. Elections aren't won with facts & reason alone, as recent decades (& probably centuries upon closer inspection) reveal. Progressive election results occur in progressive cultural environments.
So while the Rec Listed diary is accurate, it misses the point of MoT's diary. One needs no Christian belief to help demolish the right wing fortress of Bible-justified prejudice & hatred. Tear down those walls and free those voters, who often have other things in common with us--opposition to free trade, opposition to money in politics, pro-union, etc.
Some say we don't need to court religious conservative voters. I say, remember the 77%. Consider the magnitude of the environmental & economic problems we now face, & what kind of long term progressive Congressional majority will be required to solve these problems before it's too late: at least 150 progressive House members in a Democratic majority of 300, around 40 progressive Senators in a Democratic majority of 70. Yes, those numbers seem nuts, but the point is we have to evolve into a more progressive culture ASAP so that we can get those numbers. Any method that helps break down the old conservative cultural barriers between people is good and useful. Destroying the concept of the Bible & Christianity as essentially conservative may have nothing to do with what our policies are, but it has everything to do with being able to implement our policies.