Some secularists don't mind thanking God

Not everybody, self-professed secularists included, agree with the spirit as well as the letter of my previous “spare me the hand of God” post about Hurricane Katrina swerving just away from a direct hit of New Orleans.

Over at Political Animal, Kevin Drum, who says, “It is, I'm pretty sure, impossible to be more secularist than I am,” sees nothing wrong with saying “Thank God” there wasn’t further damage in the wake of Katrina.

If other people want to talk about God, let ’em talk about God. In any case, when my commenters (I e-mailed him about it) start complaining about a common phrase like ”thank God,” they've really gone off the deep end.

Count me as going off the deep end, Kev. And, I suppose you’re willing to agree with Chief Justice Rehnquist that “civic religion” is really just harmless for everybody and doesn’t really violate the First Amendment?