“…it’s important to know whether a candidate can offer discussable arguments for a position or merely holds it as a matter of religious faith. Private citizens may be entitled to base their votes on religious faith or anything thing else, but those who aspire to lead a democracy have a responsibility to engage in meaningful debate with those who disagree with them… . . It might be suggested that, from a religious viewpoint, acting in accord with the will of God must always be in the national interest. But in reality the choice is between what, apart from religious considerations, seems to be in the nation’s interest and what a president’s faith judges to be the will of God. As a representative of all the people, a president is obliged to suspend private religious judgment in favor of the temporal welfare of the nation. We need assurances that candidates will do that.”
