NEW HAVEN, Conn. — In the fractious world of religion and politics, where the soul of a nation is often portrayed as hanging on the thread of a single issue such as abortion or school prayer, a calm voice of compromise is emerging.

The herald of a mutually respectful approach to defining the boundaries of church and state is Yale Law School professor Stephen Carter, a soft-spoken, self-described liberal who rejects the notion that religion should be excluded from the body politic.

Why not, for example, allow safe-sex programs in schools, but give parents the right to excuse their children if it violates their religious principles?

And just as religiously based principles motivated the civil rights movement of the 1960s, so do individuals and groups today who oppose abortion on moral and spiritual grounds have the right to make their voices heard in political debates, Carter said.

"It is impossible for a private individual to violate the separation of church and state," he said at a recent Yale forum on "Law and Religion: Values in Contemporary America."

"The danger the separation of church and state guards against is not religion," he said. "It is the state."

Carter recently entered the literary and political limelight with a provocative book titled "The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion." In it, he argues that the 1st Amendment was intended to prevent government interference in religion and safeguard religious freedom, and that it has been twisted in recent years in attempts to exclude religion from any role in public affairs.

Among the book's many interested readers has been President Clinton, who recommended it at a recent meeting with religious leaders.

"The people of faith in this country ought to be able to say that religion shapes their approach to public debate without someone saying, 'Oh, you're just a right-winger,' " the President said.

Just how necessary a common ground may be in the contentious debate was dramatically illustrated at the forum held recently at Battell Chapel as part of the Yale Law School alumni weekend.

Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.), the forum moderator, introduced the discussion by disputing the idea that the state cannot legislate morality because that is what lawmakers do in legislation from criminal law to health care reform.

When political foes say morality cannot be legislated, Danforth said, what they may mean is "you can't do it while I'm busy doing it."