Please, please, stop talking about religion.

Goodness. The more these politicians talk about their faith--or anyone else's, for that matter--the deeper the logical, contextual and cultural holes they dig themselves into. It's certainly OK for a candidate to have or not to have an articulate personal faith, but to prate about some religious or moral principles that neither they nor their party currently finds to be anywhere near their core ideology, is just, as the younger folks say, lame. They deserve all the grief they get when they say things that turn out to be completely odious as they pander to whichever group they think is listening at the moment. It would be nice to have time--perhaps before November--to parse some of their current position statements.

By the way, for some competent talk about faith issues and moral principles, follow what Pope Benedict says this week. That's probably not a fair comparison to everyday political discourse, but why not study the best and work to model our principles on that. At least, no one will EVER accuse Benedict XVI of pandering to the audience of the day.