A plethora of perceptive posts and a progressive prayer

This excellent post at Body and Soul is about the difficulty with American Democrats and "the language of faith". All I can say is 1) amen! and 2) it's even worse in Britain, despite the two (supposedly) progressive Christians at the head of government.
Jeanne's post refers to an article by Amy Sullivan in the Washington Post titled "Do the Democrats have a prayer?" which discusses the same issue. Sullivan notes that the only two Dems to be elected since 1964, Carter and Clinton, were also the only two with significant references to their Christian faith, and I would just point out that they are both Southerners as well. East Coast "Yankees" and West Coasters just don't seem to be able to "do" religion in a political context, sothat may mean that the only Dems who do "have a prayer" are Southerners and Midwesterners who have a religious base.
You have to give the people what they want in politics, but, as a very successful Republican once said, you can "appeal to their better angels".