"I want to know..."

Albert Mohler responds to a question about whether Presidential candidates should express their personal religious beliefs:

Inevitably, our worldviews will show and our deepest beliefs will become evident. We are not compartmentalized selves, and our most fundamental beliefs - especially about God - will determine our decisions and policy proposals. I want to know how candidates for high office will incorporate their deepest beliefs and principles in their public leadership....

... As human beings, we cannot easily compartmentalize ourselves, placing our most fundamental beliefs about God, morality, and truth in one compartment and our political and public beliefs in another. We are not made that way.

In my view, candidates should be as forthright and direct about their personal religious views as about any other question. Those who make too much of these beliefs risk appearing as a candidate for national preacher. Those who make too little of their beliefs risk appearing insincere and evasive. Those who seek to exploit their beliefs will do themselves political harm.

.... I want to know how a political candidate makes decisions, weighs priorities, and gains strength in crisis.

We are not electing a national preacher, rabbi, imam, or priest, but we are electing a human being. As much as possible, I want to know what that human being believes at the deepest levels and how those beliefs form character, perspective, and political decisions.

Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com: We Are Not Compartmentalized Selves