Under our Constitution, there can be no religious test for office. That does not mean, however, that candidates should not make known their religious beliefs.

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For 30 years I’ve attended the National Prayer Breakfast, a wonderful occasion when people gather from all over the world. But please, do not confuse the Jewish or Christian disciplines of prayer with what is a celebration of civil religion.

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One of the great Christian theologians of modern times, Abraham Kuyper, once said, "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"

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One of the greatest misconceptions ever perpetuated is that Christianity teaches that sex is in itself somehow sinful or dirty. There could be nothing further from the truth.

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Gay unions violate the natural created order in which man and woman join in holy union to bear and raise children. Homosexuality, like many other behaviors, violates this order.

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I asked that very question of a Catholic Bishop, now a Cardinal. His response was, “I would look for a rich widow to marry.”

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A Christian, and I would assume a Muslim and Jew as well, can engage in certain practices common to Eastern religions.

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Christians respond by grieving with the victims. Christians pray with the victims, listen to them, and allow them to mourn.

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In the Christian understanding, apology and repentance are two different concepts.

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This question is prompted, I assume, by Mitt Romney’s candidacy for President. I do not believe, nor should any Christian believe, that there should be a religious test of any kind for public office.

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Jerry Falwell, who was a great friend of mine, will leave a huge void behind him.

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The answer is an unequivocal yes. Thirty-four years ago, after the shame and tragedy of Watergate, I was converted to Jesus Christ.

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In light of Monday’s Memorial Day remembrance, let me first say how deeply grateful I am for all the veterans, as well as those currently serving in our armed forces, for their sacrifices. This question, then, is an important and timely one.

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Doubt is normal and natural. I would worry about someone who said to me that he hadn’t had any doubts. Even in the Bible we see examples of people of faith showing doubt. A father asking Jesus to help his sick son says: “I believe, help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

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Yes, I believe in heaven and hell because I believe in a God of justice. If there were no consequences, my actions would have no significance.

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It is debatable whether paganism is a religion, per say. It is generally defined as a pre-Christian state, but it takes a wide variety of forms—all the way from relatively benign New Age-style nature worship, to pantheism, to witchcraft, and even human sacrifice.

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First off, as a Baptist I am hardly an expert on liturgy or the history of liturgy. But the real question being posed is the necessity of maintaining continuity between our worship and the way in which our ancestors in the faith worshiped.

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Thirty-four years ago this week, as a nominal Christian at best, I was witnessed to by a friend. In a flood of tears in his driveway, I called out to God to take me just as I was.

So this week I celebrate the thirty-fourth anniversary of my conversion to Christ.

A lot of people described it as a foxhole conversion, because it came in the darkest days of Watergate. But thirty-four years later I am more convinced in the reality of Jesus Christ than I am in my own reality.

Another person who had a dramatic conversion was the Apostle Paul, who wrote the following: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV).

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I think even more highly of Mother Teresa in light of her letters. When you sit in a comfortable pew, religion can seem like a nice, easy way of life.

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The question of why a merciful God allows disasters has been one of the most vexing questions for thousands of years. Any answer to such a profound question in so short a space is going to feel either inadequate or cold, but in maintaining the spirit of these short posts, I will do my best to answer concisely.

God is, in the Christian and Jewish understanding, all powerful and all loving. In the beginning God, loving us so much, created us to be like Him with a free will. But a free will presupposes that humans can disobey. The biblical account of the Garden of Eden tells us that humans did just that, choosing their own will over God’s. Theologians call this original sin the occasion of the Fall. Thereafter human nature was bent, predisposed to evil. In this Fall, all of creation came under the curse. So in the biblical understanding it is human rebellion that has brought about both manmade and natural disasters and catastrophes.

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To the religious extremists, some of whom brought us 9/11, I would say, if you believe there is anything in the teaching of your religion that promotes the death of innocents, you should flee from that.

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When you don't have the facts on your side -- or the law, I was taught in law school -- shout louder. This is all Mr. Hitchens is doing.

Odd, isn't it, that all of the suffragettes were Christians? Equally odd, the Christian Bible denounced slave traders at a time when the slave trade was in fashion. Christians in the Roman Empire worked to abolish slavery and gave rights to women. Papal bulls forbad slavery among the Spanish conquerors in the western hemisphere, and William Wilberforce, an outspoken Christian activist, valiantly led the battle for abolition of the slave trade in England.

I would suggest that Mr. Hitchens read a good book: professor of sociology Rodney Starks' The Victory of Reason. It might embarrass Mr. Hitchens in his ranting and raving, but probably not.

As a Bible-believing Christian, I take literally Jesus' promise of life hereafter; the core of the Christian faith is belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and in God's time, His return and our bodily resurrection as well.

In regards to the second question, no, I've never had any visions from dead people of any kind, and would be terrified if I did. Consulting mediums or spiritists is clearly condemned in Scripture (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6; 1 Samuel 28). In some traditions, believers ask the saints who have gone before us to intercede for us in prayer; but in no Christian tradition do we communicate with the dead.

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: 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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