Gergen: Be tolerant, not extreme

In a May 23 column in U.S. News & World Report, David Gergen explores the two national conversations that are going on in the country to the exclusion of each other. In one, conservatives of faith are "flowing into" politics, he says. In the other are secularists who want to keep religion out of politics. Both, he says, need to try to understand the other, be tolerant and keep from extremism:

"On the surface, there is nothing to fear from an infusion of people of faith into our politics; indeed, they should be welcomed. After all, people of strong faith helped to create some of our noblest causes, including the abolitionist movement in the 19th century and the civil rights movement of the 20th. Just because many of today's most ardent churchgoers come from the right is no excuse for people on the left to now say that religion must be kept out of politics. A people's values are inevitably rooted in its spiritual beliefs.....But we do have reason to say a firm, aggressive "No" to extremists on either side who try to impose their religious--or secular--beliefs upon the rest of us."