"Positive Secularism and the American Model of Religious Freedom"

The folks at Public Discourse were kind enough to publish an edited version of the remarks I gave at a recent conference, in Rome, on the "American Model of Religious Freedom."  Here is the set-up:

Pope Benedict XVI has, in recent months, expressed his admiration for the “American model” of religious liberty and church-state liberty. For example, during his trip last spring to the United States, the Pope noted, and seemed to praise, America’s “positive concept of secularism,” in which government respects both the role of religious arguments and commitments in the public square and the important distinction between religious and political authorities.

Is there, in fact, such a model, and such a concept, at work in America? What are its features? And, is it worthy of the Pope’s apparent endorsement?

Comments welcome!