Obama Reinforcing Stereotypes, Clinton Asserts

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton greets backers in Grantham, Pa., where she participated in a forum on religious and moral values. She said Democratic candidates have been hurt by voters' perceptions that they were out of touch. (By Mike Mergen -- Bloomberg News)

Sunday night's forum was organized by the nonpartisan group Faith in Public Life and was attended by leaders of many faiths, along with representatives of anti-poverty groups. The two Democrats appeared separately for 45 minutes, meeting only for a brief and visibly awkward encounter on stage, and answered questions from journalists and audience members. McCain turned down an invitation to participate.

Clinton declined repeatedly to describe her personal faith and how it informs specific decisions, citing "the way I was raised" and implying that she keeps such matters to herself. Asked why there is suffering, if there is a God, she said, "I can't wait to ask Him. I have just pondered it endlessly."

Asked where she stands on whether individuals should be able to choose to end their lives, Clinton responded, "I don't know that any of us is in a position to make that choice for families or for individuals, but I don't want us also to condone government action that would legitimize or encourage end-of-life decisions." Asked her favorite Bible story, she declared herself "a great admirer of Esther," a role model of a woman willing "to make a decision, to take a chance, a risk."

Both candidates addressed abortion, placing similar emphasis on preventing unplanned pregnancies. Obama was pressed on his comment last month in Pennsylvania that, if one of his daughters were to become pregnant as a teenager, he wouldn't want her "punished with a baby."

"All I meant was, we want to prevent teen pregnancies," Obama responded. "And what we don't want to do is to be blind to the possibility that kids will screw up, just like, surprisingly enough, we as adults screw up sometimes."

Obama said he would keep open the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives that President Bush created, although he said he would broaden its scope. And he cited global warming as an issue that he would press in order to connect with voters' religious values. "Having faith, believing that this planet and this world extends beyond us, it's not just here for us, but it's here for, you know, more generations to come," Obama said.

He also slipped in a plug for Gore, the 2000 nominee who has yet to announce his preference for 2008, and alluded to Clinton's earlier remark on the same stage. "I know that Al Gore was mentioned earlier," Obama said. "By the way, I have to say, I think Al Gore won."