Candidate Comparison: Church and State

This is the ninth in a series of posts about where the six front running presidential candidates stand on the issues. The information is from the Pew Forum. Previous posts were on Abortion, the Iraq War, Gay Marriage, Poverty, Education, The Death Penalty, Immigration and Stem Cell Research.

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Hillary Clinton
In a 2005 speech, Clinton said that religious political officials should be able to "live out their faith in the public square." During her 2000 Senate campaign, Clinton argued that allowing teachers to post the Ten Commandments in schools was a violation of the constitution.

John Edwards
Edwards says he believes in the separation of church and state, but also thinks that there is a role for faith in public life. He said "freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom from religion," but he "would not, under any circumstances, try to impose [his] personal faith and belief on the rest of the country."

Rudolph Giuliani
As mayor, Giuliani emphasized that believers and atheists alike must tolerate each others' views. During his 2000 senate campaign against Hillary Clinton, Giuliani said the Ten Commandments are ''part of Western civilization,'' and ''if teachers want to emphasize what is in it and talk about it, there shouldn't be some kind of inquisition that they can't do that.''

John McCain
McCain favors keeping the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance; he has said the nation was founded on "Judeo-Christian values" but added that "political intolerance by any political party is neither a Judeo-Christian nor an American value."

Barack Obama
Obama says he believes in the importance of the separation of church and state, but says that a "sense of proportion" should guide how it is enforced. He says that the phrase "under God" in the pledge of allegiance and voluntary student prayer groups on school property are two examples where conflict between church and state has been alleged, but should be less strictly policed.

W. Mitt Romney
Romney says the First Amendment does not mean that no religion should be established, or that secularism should be established in place of religion. He also says Judeo-Christian values helped found the United States and continue to influence it today. Romney supports keeping references to God on U.S. money, in the Pledge of Allegiance and in public places to remind Americans of their heritage.

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I have to admit that I am pretty skeptical about how the candidates spin this one. Most candidates seem to play to the middle. Really, who is going to come out in favor of taking God out of our country. Several candidates use the "T" word (tolerance) when speaking of church and state stuff ... maybe that is the word we will use to describe what we need if one of these is elected president.