The most illuminating line of President Bush’s remarkable speech yesterday to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby, was one in which he spoke of the similarities between Israel and America. “We’re both countries founded on certain basic beliefs: that God watches over the affairs of men, and values every life,” Mr. Bush said.

It was a statement remarkable for its insight into the beliefs of the founders of both Israel and America. Both have been portrayed by historians as skeptics. But in their own ways, the founders of both nations were motivated by their religious beliefs, which inspired them to persevere in the face of overwhelming odds.

This matter of religion and the founding of a nation is of more than mere academic interest just at the moment, because in Iraq, a nation is being founded, and the role of religion and religious leaders in its birth is a hotly debated topic. Mr. Bush spoke yesterday of the importance of the effort under way in Iraq. “In time, Iraq will be a free and democratic nation, at the heart of the Middle East. This will send a message, a powerful message, from Damascus to Tehran, that democracy can bring hope to lives in every culture. And this advance of freedom will bring greater security to America and to the world. These are historic times, it’s an historic opportunity,” the president said.

There’s a tendency on the part of many in the West — and particularly the highly educated coastal elites — to be skeptical of any role played by those with strongly held religious views in founding a nation. It violates our modern concep tions of separation of church and state, and raises fears about a new theocracy like that in Iran. And there is plenty of reason to be wary, for Iran’s sclerotic but nevertheless dangerous theocracy does seek influence in Iraq, and not for the good of either America or the cause of Iraqi freedom and democracy.

Yet in Iraq — as in Israel and America — religion can be an ennobling and moderating force rather than a destructive one. It has the potential, as Mr. Bush suggested, to be a force that underscores human dignity. The most significant religious leader in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, is a Shiite Muslim cleric who has no political ambitions but vast influence. Our sense so far is that he has the potential to be a positive influence toward freedom in Iraq.

These thoughts are partly inspired by some reading we have been doing lately of one of the American revolutionaries, Samuel Adams. In 1777, at the darkest and most desperate hour of the war, with Congress having fled Philadelphia to escape the advancing Redcoats, he told his fellow patriots in the American revolutionary struggle: “We have appealed to Heaven for the justice of our cause, and in Heaven we have placed our trust. Numerous have been the manifestations of God’s providence in sustaining us. In the gloomy period of adversity, we have had our cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. We have been reduced to distress, and the arm of Omnipotence has raised us up. Let us still rely in humble confidence on Him who is mighty to save. Good tidings will soon arrive. We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we are worthy of its aid and protection.”