A response to Fadhel:  
  
Actually the first attempt to articulate the positive-normative distinction  
within social science was made not to separate religion and economics, but  
to allow their connection! Richard Whately challenged the notion that  
classical economics was wedded to utilitarianism in his 1832 lectures, and  
argued that the positive knowledge that classical economics provided could  
be used by Christians of all persuasions (and, by extension, people of other  
faiths) to address social issues. His balanced appreciation for what both  
independent scientific inquiry and theological reflection bring to social  
policy analysis could serve as a model that would challenge the notion that  
each moral and religious tradition has to have its own type of economics.  
  
Richard Whately, by the way, was the first, and only, economist to go from  
the chair of political economy at Oxford to being an Archbishop!  
  
Ross Emmett