[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States- Article VI of the United States Constitution

Religion is a matter that lies solely between a man and his God… History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government.”- Thomas Jefferson

What would the founding fathers have thought if they could have seen Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s performances at last night’s “Compassion Forum” at Messiah College?

The “Compassion Forum” was designed to give voters a chance to see just how much God influences the candidates’ positions. It was precisely the kind of litmus test our forefathers tried so hard to protect against.

“The Compassion Forum (gives) the candidates a chance to talk straight to voters about what they’ll do as president to fulfill God’s command that we be our brothers’ keepers,” said Governor Mike Huckabee, a noted disbeliever in such notions as evolution.

So, the two most liberal candidates left standing, Obama and Clinton, two candidates who have been firm on issues such as reproductive choice, gay rights and diversity, accept the invitation to attend this mockery of democracy and prostituted themselves in hopes of attracting the very voters who don’t like the idea of either a Black man or any woman in office.

Here’s how Hillary chose to pander:

“I don’t think that I could have made my life’s journey without being anchored in God’s grace and without having that, you know, sense of forgiveness and unconditional love. I mean, some of my struggles and challenges have been extremely public. And I have talked about how I have been both guided and supported through those, trying to find my own way through, because, for me, my faith has given me the confidence to make decisions that were right for me, whether anybody else agreed with me or not.”

Obama was just as bad:

“I am a devout Christian … I started my work working with churches in the shadow of steel plants that had closed on the south side of Chicago … Nobody in a presidential campaign on the Democratic side in recent memory has done more to reach out to the church and talk about, what are our obligations religiously, in terms of doing good works, and how does that inform our politics?”

Ironically, John McCain, the man who has the lead among voters who describe themselves as evangelicals-had the sense not to attend.

So, why do we so desperately want our candidates to be men and women of faith?

The man currently in office is devoutly religious. His faith gave him a stranglehold on the votes of the religious right. Those votes were the deciding factors in both the 2000 and 2004 elections.

George Bush claims to talk to God on a regular basis:

* God told Bush to invade Iraq

* God told Bush that sex education was heresy

* Gold told Bush that abortion was immoral

* God told Bush that stem cell research was an abomination

* God told Bush that a vaccine for cervical cancer would only encourage sexual behavior

* God told Bush that torture was just fine with him

* God told Bush that homosexuality was immoral and homosexuals shouldn’t marry

Maybe that’s why I’m a God-fearing American.