Pictures: US Congress, in Public Domain
'Religion is also featuring more significantly in this year’s election campaign than in any other in living memory.'

Surefish correspondent Matthew Graham, who lives and works in the United States, begins a series of articles about the forthcoming presidential election

Americans believe so strongly in the separation of church and state that it is enshrined in the Constitution.

And yet there is no other democracy in the world where religion has a larger part to play in politics.

The 2008 presidential election will undoubtedly be remembered for the historic role that race and gender have had in it.

But religion is also featuring more significantly in this year’s election campaign than in any other in living memory.

We now know whose names will be headlining the ballot papers on November 4th (even if their nominations have not yet been officially endorsed by their respective parties) and in the intervening months, we shall be taking a closer look at the candidates, the issues they are pushing and avoiding and how religion factors in it all.

We’ll start, however, with a brief reminder of what’s happened thus far so get ready for the flashbacks.

Creationist

Six months ago the Republican front runners were a creationist (Sen. Mick Huckabee) who wanted to amend the Constitution to bring it in line with the Bible and a Mormon (Sen. Mitt Romney) who called for public acknowledgements of God where appropriate.

There was also a divorced Catholic (Rudy Giuliani) in the race who considered religion an important part of his life but saved all other details for his priests.

In the event, it was a man (Sen. John McCain) who refound faith whilst a prisoner of war in North Vietnam and rarely talks about his beliefs that is now the presumptive nominee.

As expected, the Democrat line-up was just as spiritual but with less of the fire and brimstone and more of the touchy-feely.

Faith has been a lifeline at moments of personal crisis and hardship for two of the candidates: Sen. John Edwards after his son’s death in a car crash and his wife’s battles with breast cancer and Sen. Hillary Clinton during her husband’s “inappropriate intimate contact” with an intern and subsequent impeachment by Congress.

The majority of Democrat religious stories, however, have focused on the eventual presumptive nominee, Sen. Barack Obama.

Madrassa

When not denying being a Muslim – his middle name is Hussein and he allegedly attended an Indonesian madrassa during his childhood -, he has been plagued by a turbulent priest.

Sen. Obama was linked to his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who has a history of delivering racially and politically charged sermons.

After several months of problems, Sen. Obama finally resigned from the church where he was married and his children baptised but whose range of opinions he could not endorse.

So here we now are: two candidates, neither of whom wears their religion on their sleeve, both of whom profess a quiet, complex faith.

And both of whom have to engage with the conservative evangelical section of the American public to win the White House.

It certainly looks as though religion is the key this year.