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My Methodist upbringing was very formative in my politics. I was born in 1969, and there was all this ecumenical 'we're in this together' sensitivity that was part of the United Methodist Church in the 1970s.

I was raised Catholic, but my father's people were Methodist, so we went to both churches.

Both my parents are Methodist preachers, I grew up in a church.

I was brought up Methodist, christened as a little baby and went to church every Sunday.

I was reared in the conservative atmosphere of a Methodist parsonage.

In my family, we were on again off again Unitarians, partly because my father, raised Roman Catholic, had had enough of church.

I chose the Republican Party early on in the 1950s and 1960s in Massachusetts. My father was a Republican, as was my mother, in Virginia.

My parents were Democrats.

Ours was a very progressive Protestant family, but my parents were God-loving rather than God-fearing. We went to church, and I still go with my mum and dad when I return home - it's a family thing. I played flute in my dad's marching band, but I had an integrated upbringing. We had a lot of Catholic friends.