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Democracies domesticate religious groups to become political players. That's how it works.

Politicians use religion, and they get their troops riled up with religion.

It's important to ask candidates about their beliefs, in part because politicians frequently exploit religious faith - often with the idea that voters will be more likely to unthinkingly accept certain political positions so long as they arise from religious belief.

Politicians read the polls that show 85 or 90 percent of the voters profess a belief in God, so they identify themselves with religion, often only to the degree necessary to reach the constituency they are targeting.

Religion, for better or for worse, has been politicized in blatant ways that have seldom been equaled in American elections.

Politics in America is the binding secular religion.

As a politician who cherishes religious conviction in his personal sphere, but regards politics as a domain belonging outside religion, I believe that this view is seriously flawed.

A strong case can be made for religious leaders to speak out on political issues.

In American religious history, theological qualms tend to get pushed aside when politics intervenes.

Religion has to stay in the heart, not in politics. It is private.