We want to talk about that and other matters with E. J. Dionne, columnist for THE WASHINGTON POST and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. He joins us from Brookings.
E. J., welcome. What are the most important questions the Senate should raise with Judge Roberts regarding issues related to religion?
E. J. DIONNE (Columnist, THE WASHINGTON POST and Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution): Well, I think we know, Bob, that they're going to talk a lot about abortion and the right to privacy. Judge Roberts may not commit a lot on those questions, but they will come up. I think there will be a lot of talk about his attitude toward what role can religion, religious institutions play within governmental context. The courts have moved toward opening the governmental sphere to religious groups in recent years. I think a lot of senators on both sides want to know where Roberts stands on that.
ABERNETHY: You mean like display of the Ten Commandments?Mr. DIONNE: The display of the Ten Commandments or the president's faith-based initiative. I also think there are issues that are of great concern to the religious community that we don't put in a religious box -- civil rights, disability rights will come up, and I think Senator Arlen Specter is going to talk about his attitude toward government regulation in areas of the environment, and the environment is an issue of increasing interest to a lot of religious groups.
Mr. DIONNE: Well, I think that you can read them as saying that each party has a problem -- that the Republicans are seen by many as too close to religious conservatives, Democrats are seen as too close to nonreligious liberals. Americans split almost in half when asked, "Are Republicans too close to religious conservatives, Democrats too close to nonreligious liberals?" The other interesting thing is the poll found that by five to three, the country thought Republicans represented religious values, while by five to three, same margin, they thought the Democrats represented individual freedom well. This argument about religion in our political parties divides us closely, and I think this poll suggests it's going to be part of our politics for a long time.
