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