Question not being asked.

Having listened to the Mitt Romney attempt to ally himself with the Christian right (Joseph Smith is spinning in his grave) and the pundits' attempts to compare it to the JFK "I will not let Rome rule me" speech, I am impelled to make the following observations:

• Kennedy's speech in 1960 was an attempt to assure the voters that he would not let his hierarchical and dictatorial Catholic religion guide his policy making. The church at the time concurred. We find ourselves now in a very different environment; one where the Catholic Church through its American bishops is explicitly trying to guide policy of politicians through the threat of excommunication if they fail to adopt the anti-abortion policy and others of the church. With five of the nine Supreme Court justices being Catholic, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. The Mormon Church has similar dictatorial stances. Romney -- and the media -- have yet to address that interaction.
• I think it's time for the media to ask how the faith that all the candidates profess would play in their decision-making process. George W. Bush has said he prays about decisions. I assume all the other candidates with perhaps the exception of Gravel and Kucinich, would pray about their decisions also. A question I would ask is, "How do you know when God is speaking to you and providing you with an answer? Assuming all your advisers (not that you would need any since you're communing with God) pray for the right decision, what if there is a conflict between them. How do you know which is God's path?"