Gov. Mark Dayton Thursday found a welcome crowd among the collared, robed and dread-locked religious leaders in advance of their lobbying day.

The DFL governor, who released a budget plan Tuesday that would raise taxes on the top 5 percent of earners, got cheers as he was introduced as someone who signed an executive order expanding federal health care, support of universal health care and he got hoots and applause for his move toward "tax fairness."

Dayton told the crowd of about 800 from the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition that he is "informed by faith" and the decision on how to budget is not just a financial decision -- "that's a moral decision."

"Politics is about improving people's lives. I deeply regret that (with the budget deficit)...I can't do more to improve people's lives," Dayton said.

To the welcoming crowd, the governor said the constructional separation of church and state is a "freedom for religion, it is not a freedom from religion."