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In Lincoln's day a President's religion was a very private affair. There were no public prayer meetings, no attempts to woo the Religious Right. Few of Lincoln's countrymen knew anything at all of his religious beliefs.

I think religion played a huge part in Bush's re-election.

Lincoln believed in the American people.

Lincoln was the greatest speaker and he was ridiculed for how he looked, you know?

To be frank, I suspect that today there is little respect for Christianity as source of moral teaching about goodness.

But having said all of that, that still doesn't account for a lot of the increase in popularity which stems, I think, from Lincoln's personal characteristics.

I think also there's no question that Lincoln has been diluted down through history in some way, almost by becoming as iconic as he is, in a way he's become diluted.

I've always wanted to tell a story about Lincoln. I saw a paternal father figure; I saw someone who was completely, stubbornly committed to his ideals, to his vision.

Abraham is such a fascinating figure. Three world religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - all claim him as a patriarch. He was raised in a religious home. And yet he rejected religion in order to pursue a personal relationship with God.

Whatever America's founders believed about Christianity - and they believed a wide range of things - they clearly rejected the idea of an established church.