U.S. Presidential Candidates and Their Religions
The Associated Press survey of major U.S. presidential candidates’ religions yielded the following results:
Democrats:
Joseph Biden: Roman Catholic
Hillary Clinton: Methodist
Christopher Dodd: Catholic
John Edwards: Methodist
Dennis Kucinich: Catholic
Barack Obama: United Church of Christ
Bill Richardson: Catholic
Republicans:
Sam Brownback: Catholic (also a weekly attender at an Evangelical Christian church)
Jim Gilmore: Methodist
Rudy Giuliani: Catholic
Duncan Hunter: Baptist
Mike Huckabee: Southern Baptist
John McCain: Episcopalian (but attends a Baptist church with his 4 youngest children)
Ron Paul: Baptist
Mitt Romney: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Tom Tancredo: Presbyterian
Fred Thompson: Church of Christ
Tommy Thompson: Catholic
June 1st, 2007 at 6:13 pm
It really is amazing to me that Americans pay so much attention to the religion affiliation of their candidates and expect them all to be regular churchgoers. Here in Canada the issue is almost ignored; if a politician is too overtly religious (like Stockwell Day) it can hurt his career, making him something of a target for mockery. Otherwise you’re expected to keep quiet about your beliefs — if you do go to mass once a week, don’t talk about it, unless the Pope or a bishop tries to criticize you for allowing gay marriage — then you can make a comment about the separation of church and state and tell the Pope to mind his own business. Canada and the US are so different on this question; the American attitude always seems strange to me.