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He also rarely talks about his baptism at age 16 at First Baptist Church of Robbins, North Carolina, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in February. But he does talk about values. At Temple A.M.E. Church, the Inquirer reported,

He spoke of children who go to bed hungry in a rich country, families who live below the poverty line even though both parents work full time, and the multitude of Americans who cannot afford basic health insurance.

"We need to do more than talk about the 35 million Americans who live in poverty every day—we need to do something," Edwards, a Methodist, told the crowd. "Because it is wrong. We have a moral responsibility to raise these families out of poverty."

Moral responsibility and values were themes to Edwards's primary campaign, as the senator distinguished himself not only from his competitors, but from the incumbent.

"We cannot concede values to this president, because I think we win a values debate with this president," Edwards told Fox News Sunday in December. "I don't think his values are the values that I grew up with in that small town in North Carolina. And they show in everything this administration does. … We can win this values debate with this president, and we need to take him on in the toughest possible way. His values are not the values of the American people." (In that interview, Edwards also said he was "absolutely not interested in being vice president" and would refuse it if offered.)

Voters, Edwards told The Washington Post in November, "want leaders, particularly a president, who they trust and who they think is a good person. … If you are a person of faith, I think it adds weight to that issue of whether you are a good person."

In 2001, Edwards was even more direct about connecting with voters on issues of faith and values. "I'm a Christian, and I hold my beliefs very, very deeply," the Winston-Salem Journal quotes him saying. "Christ is the savior of the world. … I have a connection with [Southerners'] values, and that includes faith. Do I think I can connect with those people? Of course, I do."

The Journal also notes that for two years Edwards was co-chairman of the Senate Prayer Breakfast, which is "attended mostly by Republicans." Edwards told The Interfaith Alliance, "it played an important part for me because we were able to bring members of the Senate who come from different faith traditions and different faith beliefs together to sort of share our beliefs and outside the partisan atmosphere that sometimes exists in the Senate, in a very healthy way."

It's also worth noting that Edwards serves on the board of directors for urban ministries at his church, Raleigh's Edenton Street United Methodist.

But Edwards has also said, "I think you have to be very, very careful to not let your own personal faith beliefs, particularly where they may differ with other faith beliefs, to influence national policy." So when it comes to some of the values that Edwards wants to promote, it's not clear that many conservative Protestants will rally to the campaign. He opposed the partial-birth abortion ban (though he supported it in 1998)and the "Mexico City Policy" (a.k.a. the "global gag rule"), and says he opposes both a federal marriage amendment and the Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996. However, he says he opposes both gay marriage and civil unions, and his opposition to DOMA is because "it took away the power of states." He adds, however, "I do not believe the government belongs in people's bedrooms," and voted to add sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes.

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July (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48