It is not unknown for me to tweak the toes of clerics and believers whose behavior is not up to ethical snuff. I have chided Mr. President Bush and other politicians for speaking to only their fellow believers when they invoke God. Bush is a consistent sinner in this regard. Worse, at his inauguration, he permitted two speakers to call on his specific diety "Jesus Christ" for blessings.

Most politicians offend only non-believers and those whose religions are not monotheistic by ending every speech with "God Bless America", but Bush managed to offend Jews and Muslims as well on that supposedly civil occasion.

Anybody who feels that they must wear their credo on their coat cannot be too secure in their belief, and they do not show regard or respect for others when they do so.

Rarely -- and it is all too rarely -- do we see the opposite: a person who by deed and example, by modesty of word and manner, and by respecting the beliefs and ways of others exemplifies the principles he or she stands for.

I think today of Fred Rogers, Mr. Rogers of TV fame, ever welcome in our home when our children were younger and before we figured out that it was possible to turn off the TV altogether and still survive. His passing last week is especially sad.

Unlike our President, Mr. Rogers was a real ordained minister. In the decades that his show ran, according to those he worked with and certainly on the shows I myself saw, he never once mentioned prayer, invoked the name of God, or otherwise felt the need to call upon anything but his humanity and love for his audience. In my view, he was a better emissary than our President who shoves his born-again belligerence in our faces, like it or not, and who chooses as colleagues prevaricators and exposed scoundrels.

I suspect that religious belief is a remnant of our superstitious nature, combined with a human need for certainty and community, but this does not mean that I disagree with many of the moral precepts that most religions uphold. I do not automatically think ill of a man or woman of the cloth; indeed, I am predisposed toward them as most have taken up their calling for high-minded and honorable reasons. My father, a man well-loved and respected in our home town, was an atheist (I am merely a skeptic). Yet the local priests, rabbis, and ministers were among his friends and often came to our house for dinner. When I asked him why he liked these men (in those days they were all men) he turned the question on me and asked if I liked them. I had to admit that they were among my favorite people to have come over or to visit.

My father said that though he disagreed with them on some matters (and I had some enlightening discussions about religion with them), that our town was lucky to have wise, honorable, and learned leaders. "They are good men," he said. I was proud that they would speak similarly of him when he was not around. And so it was that our family would work with their families or organizations on community projects. I became the church organist for both the Lutherans and the Catholics for a while (Catholic mass was 8:00 AM, the Lutheran service was at 10:00).

I cannot respect a person merely for their stated beliefs; doing something in the name of God or Allah is no guarantee that it is kosher. But people such as Mr. Rogers earn our respect, admiration, and love. They do no harm, neither do they lecture. They set an example. Fred Rogers may not be given much space in future history books. But we can be glad that he was captured on video tape and that he will be ressurected to guide children for as long as cardigan sweaters can be found in closets.