In the spirit of the no religious test clause in Article VI of the Constitution, we should give our candidates for president (and other offices) a lot of leeway in determining where they worship and who their spiritual leaders will be. It is wrong, through guilt-by-association tactics, to strap a candidate with isolated, out-of-context statements of preachers. All the more in the case of a former pastor (Rev. Wright) and a visiting preacher (Fr. Pfleger) at a time when Senator Obama was not even present.

I have been a member of seven Baptist churches led by 12 pastors. Every one of them has said in sermons and written in articles things I disagree with – sometimes vociferously. If a preacher is doing his or her job – preaching prophetically much of the time – their words can be controversial and sometimes outrageous. That does not mean that I embrace everything I heard or vitiate their spiritual tutelage in my life. It also does not mean I leave the church every time something controversial is spoken from the pulpit.

The same is true of Senator Obama. He emphatically has repudiated the inflammatory remarks made from the pulpit of his home church. However, to make him suffer a political penalty unless he denounces the person and changes his church membership is to expect too much. By the way, the same would go for Senators Clinton and McCain.

One’s religion should not qualify or disqualify a candidate for office. Neither should where one goes to church.