The 2008 presidential election is a long way off, the primary season is barely in sight, yet the religious ritual has already taken hold.

There’s been so much God talk lately, it’s become meaningless. God is not a candidate or a campaign manager. Yet, it’s expected and accepted for candidates to declare their faith views.

In Monday night’s debate of Democratic candidates, John Edwards – who has often mentioned the role of faith in his life – struggled with a YouTube question from a North Carolina pastor.

The Rev. Reggie Longcrier of Hickory, after noting that politicians used religion to support slavery and segregation and deny women the right to vote, asked: “So why is it still acceptable to use religion to deny gay Americans their full and equal rights?”

Longcrier, who was in the audience, wasn’t quite satisfied with Edwards’ answer separating his personal opposition to gay marriage to what he would do as president.

In earlier debates, GOP candidates didn’t seem to get the irony of mentioning Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, in almost the same breath as Guantanamo.

At a CNN forum sponsored by Sojourners, the social justice ministry and magazine, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama took turns answering questions about the role of faith in their political lives.

While I admire the effort to loosen issues of faith and morality from one-party control, equating faith and morality concerns me.

One by one, they sat with Soledad O’Brien in front of banners that read “Faith guiding our votes,” and spoke of what Jesus, and presumably the candidate, would do about health care and poverty.

For many, religion leads them to a moral vision, to caring about the world and their fellow man. Others take a different route – leaving God out of the equation – yet still arrive at the same place.

Candidates should be free to speak about their faith without voters demanding obedience to God as a prerequisite. In November 2008, America is electing a president, not a pope.

At the spring dedication of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C., former presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, paid tribute to their friend, “America’s pastor,” as Bush called him. It was possible to be touched by the support of presidents for their old friend, while feeling uncomfortable with their appearance at the opening of a facility that is an extension of Graham’s evangelical Christian ministry.

I am not an atheist, but I’d vote for one if I thought his or her policies would be good for the country. Polls show I’m in the minority; Americans would vote for a black person, a woman or a Mormon before they’d support an atheist.

No one speaks for God, yet plenty of politicians try. And few journalists ask questions as penetrating as a North Carolina minister.