Religion Claims Its Place in Occupy Wall Street

BOSTON (AP) — Protesters at the Occupy Wall Street movements have taken pains to include religious components, from a "golden calf" paraded around Wall Street to Boston's "Sacred Space" tent where people can meditate and pray.

Organizers say religious elements are needed to foster calm and unity. Plus, they say every successful movement for social change has relied on major contributions from people of faith.

Still, Occupy Wall Street is not a religious movement, and signs of faith and spiritually aren't evident at all protest sites.

Clergy emphasize they want to be seen as participants in the movement, not people trying to co-opt it. And in a movement that purports to represent the "99 percent" in society, the prominent religious groups are — so far — overwhelmingly liberal.