Dalai Lama Instructs Congress About Church-State Separation

CNN is reporting that the Dalai Lama gave a strong endorsement to U.S. Congressional leaders about the separation of religion and government:

Meeting with top U.S. lawmakers a day after his 76th birthday, the Dalai Lama cited the principle of church-state separation in his recent decision to step down as the political head of an exiled movement.

"The religious institution, the leader of the religious, and the political leadership, should be separate," he told the legislators during an appearance Thursday in the Capitol. "I myself combine! So my statement, my explanation, become like hypocrisy. Saying something, doing something different."

"Religious institutions, political institutions, must be separate - the last several decades I emphasized that," he said.