Presidential candidate John McCain inspired an explosion of controversy with his answer to a question about recent poll results: "I would probably have to say yes, that the Constitution established the United States of America as  Christian nation," the Senator said, but then added: "But I say that in the broadest sense.  The lady that lifts her lamp beside the golden door doesn't say, 'I only welcome Christians... But when they come here they know that they are in a nation founded on Christian principals.'"

McCain, in other words, understood that the same leaders who drafted a secular constitution prohibiting a single established religion wanted society at large to remain religions.  In his Farewell Address, George Washington declared: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."

Our Founders believed the nation's enduring Christian faith would protect, rather than threaten, its freedoms - and McCain's comments deserve respect, not condemnation.