Should Religion Be Out of Bounds?

The religious belief of the candidates running for president has become one of the most important issues in this year's campaign. From Mitt's Mormonism to Giuliani's Catholicism and Hillary's prayers to Obama's many paths to the same place, each of the major candidates has had to decide how to present their faith to the public.

Some have decried this public discussion as irrational and applauded Mayor Giuliani for refusing to answer questions about his Catholicism because he considers it to be his personal affair. Last week, Mr. Giuliani said "My religious affiliation, my religious practices and the degree to which I am a good or not so good Catholic, I prefer to leave to the priests. That would be a much better way to discuss it. That's a personal discussion and they have a much better sense of how good a Catholic I am or how bad a Catholic I am."

Richard Cohen, of the Washington Post, is cheered by Giuliani's refusal to discuss his religion and compares it to Kennedy's famous declaration that he was not the Catholic presidential candidate but the Democratic presidential candidate who happened to be Catholic.

Richard Cohen, however, is wrong. It is true that we should not have a religious test for political office in our country. As long as a candidate's personal beliefs are moral they should not be disqualified for office. However, religion is extremely powerful in informing the worldview and guiding the actions of many religious people.

The president of the United States is the Commander-in-Chief and the head of our state, not a robotic policy-maker. We need a leader who has the character to respond to emergencies like September 11th with courage and clear vision.

Religion is relevant to choosing among candidates for public office for two reasons:

First, religious belief often dictates a candidate's policy positions. The most obvious example is abortion. If your religion leads you to believe that life begins at conception then it is very likely that you will advocate a complete prohibition of abortion as murder. Scientists cannot tell us when life begins, so it is left to our consciences and personal beliefs to decide this critical conceptual question.

Second, a person's religious life can provide insight into that person's character. If a politician has not kept sacred promises made as part of his or her religion, how likely is it that that same politician will keep campaign promises made to the American public?

Religious questions can be bigoted and insensitive. But understanding a candidate's religious beliefs is crucial to understanding the policies that candidate will advocate and the type of leader the candidate will be.