Numerous polls have shown that America is a highly religious country, full of people with diverse but deeply held religious convictions. A substantial number of Americans attend worship services frequently. As philosopher Michael Novak has observed, more people
attend church on Sunday morning than attend football games over the weekend, and that includes high school, college, and pro football games combined.

According to a poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, an overwhelming majority of Americans claim to believe in God and over 70% of them desire similar beliefs from their President.

In December, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton hired what the press called a "faith guru" to help her win over evangelicals and other so-called value voters as she begins her 2008 campaign. Senator Barack Obama has a director of religious outreach. That two of the top contenders for the Democratic nomination for president would already have hired aides who are specializing in
religious outreach is a dramatic change from 2004, when the only candidate who employed a religious outreach consultant was Howard Dean, a man who momentarily forgot to locate the book of Job in the right testament.

Both political parties have strong and sincere religious constituencies that support them. Any candidate who is tone deaf to religious language and who is uncomfortable speaking publicly about religious themes will be a candidate who will have great difficulty being nominated by their
Party, much less have a chance to win the presidency.

Of course, an important caveat is this: Expressions of religious faith by candidates must be sincere, genuine, and authentic. Otherwise they will be perceived as politically calculating and will backfire.