The method is clear: Bush is appealing to conservative Christians while Kerry is trying to appeal to any religion at all. During this election season, religion is shaping up to play a more pivotal role than ever in determining whether Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., will become our next president or if President George W. Bush will serve another four years.

However, what many Republicans hope will swing the election towards their candidate is the fact that people such as the bishops of the Catholic Church increasingly seem to be supporting Bush because he is against abortion and gay marriage.

Also, Bush seemingly is blurring the line between church and state, which the church certainly will not complain about. However, this “religious right” is contradicting its own teachings in its support of the Bush-Cheney campaign.

According to Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Colorado, the only vote a faithful Catholic can place is a vote for Bush. He backed his statements by saying abortion is a “foundational issue.” Chaput said that a vote for Kerry is a sin and must be confessed before a Catholic can take communion.

However, what Chaput fails to recognize is that President Bush also supports pre-emptive war. “The Bush Doctrine,” as it has been touted by Republicans, states we must strike terrorists before they strike us, even if we must strike unilaterally. The Catholic Church consistently has said it is opposed to pre-emptive war. So, how can a “faithful Catholic” vote for a candidate who supports such a war?

How can Catholic bishops endorse a candidate who is willing to invade a country and murder thousands of innocent civilians because that country may somehow pose a threat to our national security?

President Bush constantly has used his faith to justify his decisions. He has successfully painted the war on terror as a “good versus evil” fight. However, he fails, or refuses, to realize that the teachings of most Christian religions do not support pre-emptive war.ÿ

President Bush is a member of the Methodist church; however, the United Methodist Church is against war and endorses “complete disarmament.”

If faith plays such an important role in President Bush’s life and truly affects his policy making, why is his policy to engage in pre-emptive war even if it means going unilaterally? Why does he go against the religion that he touts so freely?

Apparently, the issues of abortion and gay marriage trump war in the eyes of certain bishops. Pope John Paul II should be praised for publicly voicing opposition to the war. However, he has failed to tell his bishops and archbishops to stop preaching politics and to stop endorsing candidates, because they are contradicting the teachings of their church by supporting Bush.

The fact is, policies of both candidates do not follow all teachings of any religion. President Bush supports pre-emptive war and, according to the second debate, limited stem-cell research. Kerry is pro-choice and does not favor a constitutional amendment that bans gay marriage. Both have their similarities and their differences.

The difference between the two candidates is that one, Bush, is willing and ready to push his beliefs on other people, while the other, Kerry, sees that there are people of different religions who have different morals, and that their religion should be respected just as much as the religions of the president.

Bush cannot make that distinction and has even said, “I believe God wants me to be president,” and, as reported in June by the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, “God told me to strike at al-Qaeda, and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did.”

According to the teachings of Christianity, God would never tell any person to wage war on another. He certainly would never tell someone to kill thousands of people. God did not tell Bush these things. He invoked the name of God into his reasoning to win votes.

Televangelists, Catholic bishops and many other religious leaders are telling their followers to vote for Bush. Bush is using his faith to justify positions that contradict those taught to religious followers. This is all being done without anyone questioning why and even if it’s true.

So, if you’re going to vote based on your religion, the real question you have to ask yourself is: “What would Jesus do?” The answer: Call them both sinners and endorse neither one.

When you go to the polls Nov. 2, vote for who you believe will best lead this country, not who claims to have the higher moral ground.