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Presidential Piety

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Assessing the candidates' views on
religious belief and policy.

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Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Washington
o matter who wins the race
for the U.S. presidency in
November, American reli-
gious institutions will likely.
be called on to play a larger role in dis-
pensing social services to those in need.
All of the presidential candidates
support the initiative known as char-
itable choice, which would provide
public funding to faith-based organi-
zations to run such programs as
homeless shelters or drug abuse pro-
grams.
That is the finding of a new study
assessing the positions of all the cur-
rent presidential candidates on a vari-
ety of issues of concern to Jews.
The study, by the National Jewish
Democratic Council, was released this
week as Vice President Al Gore and
Texas Gov. George W. Bush cruised to
victory in the Iowa presidential cau-
cuses, giving them new momentum
for the primary season that begins
next week in New Hampshire.
The NJDC, whose study lays out
the views of the two Democrats, six
Republicans and one Reform Party
candidate with their eyes on the
White House, clearly has issued the
report with a partisan agenda in mind
— to promote the Democratic candi-

dates as those most appealing to
Jewish voters.
Despite its partisan purpose, howev-
er, the guide details — through voting
records, public statements and news
reports — the views of the candidates
on issues from Israel to abortion.
The compilation of views on
church-state issues seems particularly
timely, coming during a presidential
race in which personal faith and
church-state issues have played a
prominent role.
The unprecedented discussion
about religion — including the revela-
tion that Bush views Jesus as his
favorite philosopher, and how Gore
proudly refers to his born-again
Christian beliefs — has made many
Jews uncomfortable.
But others say the personal reli-
gious beliefs of a president are irrele-
vant or can even say something posi-
tive about a person.
"The notion that a Christian saying
he is a Christian excludes Jews or is
offensive to Jews is silly rhetoric," said
Marshall Breger, a professor of law at
the Columbus School of Law at
Catholic University.
Breger, an Orthodox Jew who served
as the Jewish liaison under President
Ronald Reagan, said that in fact he
believes that people who are more reli-
gious "would be more respectful of my
religion."

