No 'pastor in chief': Religion as a factor in 2008 presidential race

Published: 2007-10-19

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In contrast to the 2000 and 2004 presidential election cycles, when some saw Republican candidates as too cozy with religious leaders and too willing to bring their faith into the public sphere, this year's GOP candidates for president have been relatively quiet on the topic of religion. The Democratic presidential candidates, on the other hand, have lost the reticence of recent years and are talking openly about their faith experiences and how that would affect their political decisions. But the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, a Baptist minister who is president of the Interfaith Alliance, isn't any happier with the Democrats now than he was with the Republicans then. "We're electing a commander in chief, not a pastor in chief," he said at an Oct. 10 panel discussion with Diana Eck, director of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and Amy Caiazza, study director for democracy and society programs at the Institute for Women's Policy Research in Washington.

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