c. 2008 Religion News Service

GRANTHAM, Pa. _ Poverty, disease and climate change took center stage Sunday (April 13) night as Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton squared off on how their private faiths would affect their public decisions as president.

At a “Compassion Forum” held at evangelical Messiah College, the two Democratic presidential candidates fielded questions about whether God wants Clinton to be president, and what Obama meant when he said “bitter” small-town people cling to guns and religion.

The forum, just nine days before Pennsylvania’s crucial April 22 Democratic primary, offered a glimpse into the values the candidates draw upon when confronting tough decisions or hard times.

The two candidates passed each other only brief at the debate’s midpoint for a quick handshake. They faced questions posed by religious leaders who hoped to discuss issues like poverty and AIDS that often get overshadowed by traditional hot-button topics like abortion and gay marriage.

The conversation ranged from the seemingly silly, such as what Obama would say if his young daughters asked if God really created the world in six days, to whether Clinton thinks President Bush’s presence at the Beijing Olympics will harm the U.S.’ “moral voice.”

Clinton was immediately asked to respond to Obama’s recent comments at a San Francisco fundraiser about small-town Pennsylvanians clinging to religion, guns and anti-immigrant attitudes.

“This characterization of people in a way that really seemed to be elitist and out of touch is something we have to overcome,” Clinton said. “The Democratic Party, to be blunt about it, has been viewed as a party that didn’t understand and reflect the values and the way of life of so many of our fellow Americans.”

Obama faced the same question right away when it was his turn.

“My words may have been clumsy,” he said, adding that he was trying to talk about the frustration of people who feel that government is not listening to them. His comment about clinging to religion “was in no way demeaning of faith that I myself embrace.”

The 90-minute live event moderated by Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham and CNN anchor Campbell Brown was the second time the two Democratic candidates focused solely on faith and values at a single event. Republican John McCain declined an invitation.

Democrats have shied away from such events in the past, but are now reaching out to faith voters to bridge what experts have termed the “God gap.”

“There have been elements, many of them in my own party, in the Democratic Party, that believe that any influence of religion whatsoever in the public debate somehow is problematic or violates church and state,” Obama said. “On the other hand, there have been those primarily … in the Republican Party whose view has been that the separation between church and state shouldn’t even be there.

“And I think both extremes are wrong,” he said, adding that faith is rooted in American culture and history.

Clinton said that any conversation about religion need to be “inclusive and respectful.”

“That has not always happened,” she said.

About 1,000 invited guests, including about 500 Messiah students selected by lottery, attended the forum, which was sponsored by Faith in Public Life, a broad group of religious leaders; The One Campaign, founded by U2 frontman Bono; and Oxfam America.

The two candidates were asked whether life begins at conception as well as whether they sanctioned euthanasia for the terminally ill.

Clinton said she believes that the “potential for life begins at conception,” but that decisions on abortion should be left to individuals.

“The alternative would be such an intrusion of government authority that it would be very difficult to sustain in our kind of open society,” she said, adding abortion should remain safe and rare.

Obama said, “This is something that I have not, I think, come to a firm resolution on. … I don’t presume to know the answer to that question.”

Obama said he supports guidelines for allowing people to end their lives. Clinton would leave it up to families to decide, but said there needs to be a framework for how those decisions are made.

Clinton said the government needs to work more to persuade pharmaceutical companies to provide low-cost drugs to Third World countries, but she favors working with private groups and other governments instead of sending troops on humanitarian missions.

Obama pledged to support an effort to halve the poverty rate in America within 10 years and said he would use the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to target the problem along with the faith community.

(Brett Lieberman writes for The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa.)

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Photos from the Compassion Forum are available via https://religionnews.com.