Last week, after two days of meeting on the importance of interfaith dialogue in furthering understanding and cooperation for peace, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia held a news conference to praise the success of the meeting.

President George Bush also addressed the U.N. on the significance of faith in his own life and Jordan’s King Abdullah spoke on how solving the Palestinian/Israeli crisis is the key to building bridges between the faiths in the Middle East.

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield is President of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and author of the book You Don’t Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right: Finding Faith without Fanaticism. Brad also hosts the television show, American Pilgrimage, on Bridges TV. He also Edits the blog Windows and Doors.

Eboo Patel is Muslim. And he’s Founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based international nonprofit that promotes interfaith cooperation. And he’s author of the book Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation. Eboo also blogs for the Washington Post on a blog called The Faith Divide.

And Tom Boyd is a Christian, and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

The three were in Chicago recently at McCormick Theological Seminary for a panel discussion on the intersection of religion and public life through the lens of Islam, Judaism and Christianity called Naked or Sacred: How Much God in the Public Square?

And Jerome began with the question, “Where is the U.S. on the spectrum of religion in the public square?” Some countries have religious political parties with direct input into government functions. Europe has almost no religion in the public square. In America, religion has great influence over secular political parties. Jerome asked Eboo to start us off on where is the U.S. in all of this…