Clinton, Obama to vie for votes at "faith forum"

[Bluebear]

Oh, good, because we don't cater to uberreligious voters quite nearly enough. :crazy:

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Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will court the "faith vote" at a forum this weekend, seeking support from a sizable constituency with a major influence on U.S. politics.

Organizers say the nationally televised forum on Sunday night at Messiah College near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, will allow the candidates to discuss how their religious faith informs their positions on issues such as global poverty, AIDS, climate change and abortion.

Religion plays a much bigger role in U.S. politics than elsewhere in the developed world, reflecting Americans' comparatively high rates of belief and church attendance.

"It would be unlikely anywhere else to find presidential candidates who would feel compelled to answer questions from religious groups," said Matthew Wilson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"In many European societies, many politicians are reluctant to discuss their faith convictions publicly but here we expect them to do so."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080411/pl_nm/usa_politics_religion_dc