First, a question: How important is it to you that the next president is a Christian?

Since both John McCain and Barak Obama are professing Christians, perhaps a better question would be: How much God-talk do you want to hear from the next president? Commenting on last week’s final presidential debate, Time Magazine’s Massimo Calabresi noted the absence of a word used often by many politicians.

In the nearly sixteen thousand words uttered last night in the debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, one was noticeably absent: God. The deity got not a single mention, not even a perfunctory “God Knows,” or “Good God,” or “God Bless America”. In fact, in the three presidential debates, McCain and Obama have completed a surprising sweep: no mention of “God”, the “Lord”, or even a higher power.

This omission is striking coming on the heals of a president who regularly and comfortably talks about faith.  During a primary debate in  1999 George W. Bush famously noted that Jesus was his favorite philosopher, adding, “When you turn your heart and your life over to Christ, when you accept Christ as the savior, it changes your heart. It changes your life. And that’s what happened to me.”  While this type of language from a politician would strike many outside the United States as odd, we Americans expect our candidates to wear their faith as prominently as their flag lapel pins.

But why?  Do politicians seem more trustworthy if they speak with ease about their faith?  Despite the antipathy of many Evangelicals to church-going, Jesus-loving former presidents Carter and Clinton, many of us still see a candidate’s faith as a natural part of the vetting process.  Are we holding out hope that a president will have enough faith, or the right kind of faith to make all the correct decisions?

One final question.  For those few Signs of Life readers who wouldn’t call yourselves Christians: What do you make of God language in American politics? I’d enjoy hearing your perspective on this.