One candidate is from the Bible Belt and likes to tell the story of how God redeemed him from a life of destructive drinking, which made him a better husband and public servant for such a time as this.

The other hails from the Northeast, where religion is a more private matter. While he won't wear his on his sleeve, he says, his faith shapes his values and his values animate his actions.

President Bush, a United Methodist, and Sen. John Kerry, a Roman Catholic, both consider faith a vital part of their lives. But how do the presidential candidates' personal beliefs inform their public policy when it comes to gay marriage, federal budget priorities, the war in Iraq and a host of other issues with moral components? In this regard, the two men could hardly be more different.

Not only does Kerry passionately call for separation of church and state, he makes no personal claim to divine guidance in his decision-making and advocates far less presidential piety than Bush displays.

"I personally would not choose - though I'm a person of faith - to insert it as much as the president does," Kerry told The Ladies Home Journal in August 2003. "I think it crosses a line, and it sort of squeezes the diversity that the presidency is supposed to embrace. It creates a discomfort level."

On a similar note, Kerry told reporters in April, "I fully intend to continue to practice my religion as separately from what I do with respect to my public life, and that's the way it ought to be in America."

 

Different backgrounds

Kerry, whose paternal grandparents were born Jewish and converted to Catholicism, says this separation is a constitutional requirement established by the founders to protect people of all faiths or no faith. He also sees it as a guard against arrogance in the name of God.

Unlike Kerry, whose Catholicism has been a lifelong journey since infant baptism, Bush experienced a profound and sudden change when he embraced Christianity and quit drinking in a classic adult, evangelical conversion. It has carried into his political life.

The president told CNN's Larry King, "I don't see how you can separate your faith as a person from the job of being president."

 

Roles as Christian, president

"He's the commander in chief, not the pastor in chief," James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, said in an interview. "But I don't think President Bush thinks he can compartmentalize his life so that when he steps in the Oval Office, God somehow isn't there. That would be an illusion."

In most non-Islamic countries, it would be unusual for politicians to make repeated references to religion. But not in the United States.

When Bush frames the war on terrorism as a battle between good and evil, he draws upon a long historical tradition. Ever since 17th-century Puritan leader John Winthrop compared America with the biblical "shining city on a hill," presidential candidates from both parties have used that metaphor to argue that America has been singled out as special.

The Sept. 11 attacks gave Bush ample opportunity to expand on that theme. The day of the attacks, Bush said the United States was targeted "because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world." He promised that "no one will keep that light from shining."

Addressing this year's Republican National Convention, Bush justified the invasion of Iraq and removal of Saddam Hussein with a favorite maxim: "Freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world."

Towey said Bush's faith is evident on the job. Away from the public and the media, the president has been seen with his head bowed, apparently in silent prayer, before giving a speech.

Yet what is Christian humility to Bush supporters is self-righteousness to some of his critics, especially when Bush applies his faith to hot-button social issues.

Consider same-sex marriage. Bush opposes it, arguing in this year's State of the Union address that "the same moral tradition that defines marriage (as the union of a man and a woman) also teaches that each individual has dignity and value in God's sight."

Kerry is far more cautious.

"I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman," Kerry said at a March campaign stop in Tougaloo, Miss. "But I believe it's important in the United States of America that we recognize that we have a Constitution which has an equal protection clause."

A similar dynamic is at work in the areas of abortion rights and federal funding for research on new embryonic stem cells.

Bush opposes both, explaining to "March for Life" participants in January that "all life is sacred and worthy of protection."

Kerry supports abortion rights and stem cell research in defiance of the official teachings of his own church. He addressed the dichotomy in a July interview with the Telegraph Herald of Dubuque, Iowa:

"I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception." But, he added, "I can't take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist" because "we have separation of church and state in the United States of America."

Like many Democrats, Kerry is more comfortable applying religious principles to what he considers issues of social justice in the federal budget.

"We believe in the family value expressed in one of the oldest commandments: 'Honor thy father and thy mother,'" Kerry said in accepting his party's nomination. "As president, I will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits."

 

Looking through different lenses

Northeasterner Kerry and Texan Bush not only reflect the religious sensibilities of their political parties and geographic regions, they see the presidency through the lenses of their particular faith traditions, said John Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron.

Bush, influenced by his evangelical Christianity, seeks moral clarity, Green said, while Kerry, as a Catholic, finds ambiguity.

Bush "makes a decision and he sticks to that decision and that fits with the certainty of his faith," said Green, a leading scholar of religion and politics. "The fact of the matter is that President Bush is not into nuance. On the other hand, Sen. Kerry is very nuanced. He does really see multiple sides of an argument and looks at them closely before making a decision."