The longer any campaign goes on—and nowadays they're almost perpetual—the more the charges and counter-charges build up. It's unavoidable in year-long campaigns that a lot of the negative stuff would stick. So the figures do not surprise me.

The more important question is, does integrity matter in a president? Having served one flawed president and known a number of others, I would, if I had to make a choice, far rather see character than competence. Integrity goes to the very heart of what a person is. His or her policies may be very attractive, but if he or she can't be trusted, the policies won't matter.

And a candidate's personal life, while privacy should be respected, is fair game because it informs us on matter of character and integrity.

The Question: Jeremiah Wright's sermons continue to be an issue in the presidential campaign. Why? What do you think of his preaching style? What do you wish you understood better about it?

If there’s anything redeeming about the Jeremiah Wright controversy, it is that it may lead to a long-overdue national discussion of race and reconciliation.

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The Question: In his speech to U.S. bishops last week, Pope Benedict XVI said: "Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted . . . To the extent that religion becomes a purely private affair, it loses its very soul." Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Pope Benedict couldn't have said it any better. To treat religion as a purely private matter is self-refuting. Christianity as a religion seeks to explain all of life. The term logos, used to describe Jesus, in the original Greek understanding meant all truth that could ever be known.

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The Question: Pope Benedict's recent baptism of a well-known Italian Muslim has prompted criticism in much of the Islamic world. Has Benedict done enough to build bridges to Islam?

No one in the Islamic world should bear ill will towards Pope Benedict, especially in regard to the conversion of the Italian Muslim, Magdi Cristiano Allam. From my understanding, Allam didn’t convert because he was wooed over; he had long ago turned against Islam.

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Leaving aside John McCain's relationship to televangelist Rod Parsley, whom I've never heard of, there's nothing particularly shocking about calling Islam a false religion. If I were a devout Muslim, I would believe that a Christian who believed in the substitionary atoning death of Christ on the cross and the resurrection, as I do, believed in a false religion.

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The Question: The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 40 years ago. What are your memories of that day? What impact did it have on you? How is King relevant to you and to us today?

I vividly remember the day and the shock I felt and the fear I had for what it would do to our country. King remains one of the most significant figures in our history.

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The Question: Which "ism" is more entrenched in America, sexism or racism? Which should religion address?

Both isms—sexism and racism—are sadly a part of American culture as they are, often to a much greater degree, in other cultures around the world. The dominant groups of any culture do not give up their privileged position easily. Christians have always seen a primary responsibility of the Christian life to defend human rights.

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If Jesus was not raised from the dead, as the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, Christians are of all people most to be pitied. To me, the resurrection is the central doctrine of Christianity, and if you don’t believe in it, then you can’t really call yourself a Christian. But I don’t know why people would not believe in it, because the evidence for it is overwhelming.

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The Question: How should Barack Obama have responded to inflammatory remarks made by his former pastor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright? Are you responsible for what your spiritual leader says from the pulpit?

Barack Obama is not responsible for what his spiritual leader says from the pulpit anymore than I would assume responsibility for what my pastor says.

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The Question: What does the Eliot Spitzer scandal say about our public and private morality? Should he have resigned?

Integrity means wholeness. When a ship goes to sea, it assures its watertight integrity. Even a small leak can affect the ship.

Christians do not believe that we can separate public and private morality. A man who will cheat on his wife will cheat on the taxpayers.

Spitzer might not have lost his moral authority and been able to survive in office had he not set such a high standard through his years of prosecution. For him to stay would have been more hypocritical than even our morally indifferent, tolerant-at-all-costs society could accept.