of the nonprofit organization common cause bob edgar joins me tonight for conversations with great minds discuss his time in office the issues he's now taking on the war of peace and the corruption of the supreme court by any means necessary that's exactly what the republican party is doing to get their way and that includes using hostage taking tactics whole debate that and more infamous rumble last romney campaign contributions appearing out of thin air it's not a mormon miracle and it should be illegal but according to the supreme court it's perfectly legal if it comes from a faceless corporation. and it's daily take. presides conversations of the great minds i'm joined by a policy voice in america dr bob edgar a former congressman from pennsylvania who served six terms in the u.s. house of representatives and a master's degree in divinity from the illogical school during the first year as well as five honorary doctoral degrees he's going to learn his insight and talents to a number of organizations across america from families usa to the national coalition on health care at the cente

welcome back to conversations with great minds of i'm joined by dr bob edgar the c.e.o. of common cause and the author of the book middle church reclaiming the moral values of the faithful majority from the religious right now you were arrested here last week and i want to get to that but first what is the middle church. when i was general secretary of the national council of churches i was frustrated with people like pat robertson and other conservatives that robertson was calling for the assassination of the president of them as a way of they were making outrageous statements so a number of people jimmy carter was well jim wallace of sojourners was was a former senator who was an episcopal priest jack down for it and i all four of us wrote books that were very similar pushing back on the religious right and in my case the book middle church reclaiming the moral values of the faithful majority was pointing out that what the left hasn't done very well is evangelize the middle and if you put the religious spectrum alongside the political spectrum they're very similar thos

joining me now, president and ceo of common cause, bob edgar, a former congressman and a former generalretary of the national council of church e es christ in the u.s., thanks for joining me tonight. >> it's great to be with you tonight. >> so what do you think of the thes thesis, are democrats taking the right approach by not mixing religion and politics? and by the way, i get why there's an impulse for it, but it seems the republicans are the only ones who get to claim the define on their side. >> well, i think since the 1970s when i served in congress and the religious right led by jim and tammie baker and the tell advantage lists and other had a similar marriage with ronald reagan and jimmy carter. the other person not to be supported as a christian, i think there has been this unusual marriage between the political right and religious right. i'm a progressive who believes that we ought to have separation of church and state but not separation of people of faith and institutions of government. that's why just two weeks ago i helped organize 11 faith leaders, jewish, christian, roman