Source: Newsday

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpcoc063612853jan06,0,3917141.column

On January 6, 2004 Newsday published an editorial by Marie Cocco on Howard Dean's recent decision to discuss his faith more openly in his presidential campaign. Cocco writes, "Dean can quote scripture all he wants. He won't be accepted as a faith-based candidate because the public is conditioned to equate religious faith with political conservatism. And this is, at bottom, the only reason Dean should take on the task. He shouldn't try to make the case that his decidedly secular political career has really been guided by religion all along. Instead, Dean should demonstrate the high price of allowing one set of religious activists to so dominate the discourse that they've managed to decide for the rest of us what constitutes the proper balance between faith and politics."