The Beatitudes Society: Salon writer Sara Miles writes on Ashes and Dust.

Faithful Democrats' Jesse Lava asks, will somebody (especially apathetic Christians) think of the children?

Quaker blogger gathering in light posts a "spiritual reflection on life with ghosts."

The Wheeler Spin experiences deja vu with the neoconservative god's of war.

The Rev. Chuck Currie got a new blogging job for the official UCC site. Check out his Lenten podcast.

Atheist Zen blogger Woodmore Village writes about UUism and Humanism: Or How I Learned to Like Unitarian Universalism.

From inside the UU world, philocrates writes about Harvey Cox's lecture on "James Luther Adams: Evangelical Unitarian or Unitarian Evangelical?"

And Muslim blog City of Brass calls out those who use Christopher Hitchens racist language.

Special section on the discussion among bloggers about the role of faith in progressive public life.
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Although the discussion existed before, due to the controversy over the language and politicization of former Edwards' bloggers, the debate about the role of faith in progressive politics flared up this week.

Last week, kos wrote a long piece on religion, values and politics essentially pointing out that the best candidates and progressive policies come from values, both from the bible and from life experiences independent from faith. But that "talking about faith" hurts the cause.

Jim Wallis offers to make a deal:

How about if progressive religious folks, like me, make real sure that we never say, or even suggest, that values have to come from faith – and progressive secular folks, like you, never suggest that progressive values can’t come from faith (and perhaps concede that, in fact, they often do).

At Street Prophets, Pastor Dan responds:

So Mr. Wallis, let's make our own deal. How about if you realize that there are other people in the religious grassroots working carefully and productively to make common cause with secular progressives.

Kos says, huh? I think we agree.

Atrios, who weighed in last week, writes:

There are few people anywhere in our mainstream discourse who are anything close to being anti-religion, and I'm not aware of any of them having prominent ties to the Democratic party or any prominent organization associated with The Left, let alone speaking for them. . .As I said before I don't really care if progressive or any other beliefs come from faith, but who has denied that they can?

Wallis then tries to clear the air.

Then Kos suggests that he and Wallis don't agree after all.

At Talk to Action, Frederick Clarkson weighs in against what he sees as Wallis' unsupported worries about non-religious folks on the left.

Mik Moore of JSpot, notes the Jewish angle: "jspot is a progressive faith blog and thus part of the somewhat amorphous 'religious left,' (as is JFSJ). And the liberal Jewish community has always struggled with tensions between our observant, non-observant, secular, and anti-religious constituencies. My hope is that the lessons liberal Jews have learned and continue to learn can be instructive to the larger conservation [sic] surrounding Wallis’ post."

Faithful Democrats' Jesse Lava wonders what the secular left even is. But he sticks up for Wallis, stating: I'm a fan of Jim Wallis. He has done an awful lot to draw attention in this country to a progressive Christian vision. Many Americans know the message of Matthew 25 (and the like) because of him. But Lava adds:

As these secular-religious discussions progress, I hope we can eventually come to a point where we don't have to keep talking about our attitude toward each other -- like one of those relationships where all you talk about is the relationship itself. Soon, I hope, we'll understand each other and march on.

Noting that "Wallis, Street Prophets, Kos and Atrios are All My Brothers" Faithful Progressive weighs in on Mr. God's Politics himself:

Yes, Wallis sometimes seems to attack straw men, he's a little wobbily on keeping abortion non-criminal, and he seems on occasion to randomly lash out at Kos or the secular left for reasons known only to him. But this has to be put in the context of 30 years of work organizing on behalf of the poor. To me, that balance is overwhelmingly positive.

And finally,the Rev. Chuck Currie provides farsighted analysis:

But you walk away from discussions about religion on blogs like Daily Kos with the strong feeling that the secular left is happy to tolerate religious people as long as we use DNC talking points in place of the Beatitudes. We're a tool to them (Wallis became the ultimate tool himself when he gave the Democratic response to a recent weekly radio address by the president). When the Christian faith simply becomes a tool for one or another of the political parties we fail in our primary obligation as disciples: to make other disciples so that we build up in the Kingdom.