No God talk at the Ole Miss debate

Last night's presidential debate, which was focused on issues of economic and foreign policy, was completely free of talk about religion -- a marked shift in language choice from the words used by both candidates during their acceptance speeches at their party political conventions. A search of the transcript finds not a single reference to God, church, faith, or religion; even when the subject turned to Iran, Israel, and terrorism, neither candidate mentioned Christianity, Islam or Judaism.

The debate did touch on several subjects of concern to religious communities, particularly the Middle East. Both candidates expressed strong support for Israel when talking about Iran. An excerpt from the comments on Iran by the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain:

"My reading of the threat from Iran is that if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, it is an existential threat to the State of Israel and to other countries in the region because the other countries in the region will feel compelling requirement to acquire nuclear weapons as well. Now we cannot a second Holocaust. Let's just make that very clear."

And an excerpt from the response, also on Iran, by the Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama:

"Ironically, the single thing that has strengthened Iran over the last several years has been the war in Iraq. Iraq was Iran's mortal enemy. That was cleared away. And what we've seen over the last several years is Iran's influence grow. They have funded Hezbollah, they have funded Hamas, they have gone from zero centrifuges to 4,000 centrifuges to develop a nuclear weapon. So obviously, our policy over the last eight years has not worked. Senator McCain is absolutely right, we cannot tolerate a nuclear Iran. It would be a game changer. Not only would it threaten Israel, a country that is our stalwart ally, but it would also create an environment in which you could set off an arms race in this Middle East."

(Photo by Reuters.)