While no religious dogma should be incorporated into societal policies, a civilized society cannot help but be informed by its religious underpinnings.

It is a razor's edge that we walk between benefiting from the wisdom found in religious teachings and adopting a stifling theocratic rule by zealots driven to impose their narrow mind-trap of ignorance on everyone else.

It is a razor of our own making.  The silly controversy between the creationists and the evolutionists is a case in point:

o The Bible says God did it, and speaks in poetic terms about the Love and Wisdom of it.  That’s plenty good enough for my faith, a matter of the heart served by a mind not yet capable of understanding the glory of God’s creation.

o Science is the journey of discovery by which we advance our understanding of the mechanics of the wonder of Creation.  Evolution attempts to explain how it was done, not why.  This journey of discovery is a matter of the mind, a gift of God for that purpose, as we answer the need of our heart to understand the Glory of our Creator. 

Creation and evolution are not contradictory, they are complementary.  And they merge more and more in our Creator as we gain Wisdom.

It's a classic case of being careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water.  Or, of not slicing ourselves in two on the razor’s edge.