As the presidential primary season begins, Americans increasingly want to know about the religious affiliation and beliefs of the candidates. It's a system very different from ours in the UK.
Just before Christmas, the first item on the BBC and other broadcasters' national news was that former Prime Minister Tony Blair had converted to Roman Catholicism and been received into the Church.
In the UK, the Queen is Defender of the Faith- the Church of England. Her heir, the Prince of Wales, has stated he wishes to be defender of faith, rather than The faith, including other people of faith in his status.
And, when asked, at the end of the week before Christmas, the new leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK, Nick Clegg, admitted openly that he was not a believer.
The custom used to be to say that faith was a personal matter. "None of your business," was the standard reply to journalists who asked. But that will no longer do. Faith- of all varieties- plays a much larger role in the largely irreligious UK, and it clearly plays a far greater role in the deeply evangelized United States.
As religion plays a greater and greater role- politically, even if sometimes as a proxy for something else, and personally, in how people define themselves, I have no problem with us asking our would-be political leaders what their religious affiliations are, and, indeed, what their beliefs are.
In some key areas, human fertilization, assisted conception, contraception, abortion, and attitudes to war and peace, those religious views can affect a person's natural political stance considerably. Or on matters such as alleviation of poverty, or attitudes towards the death penalty, religious convictions can shape the response completely.
So I believe it is right that we should know, right that we should ask, and right that we should be suspicious of too much public demonstration of religious observance- in case it masks something else. Fewer prayer breakfasts and more public discussion of moral issues with a faith dimension would suit my taste better- and give me less cause for concern that it is all for show.
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