I think I would like to know about someones religious beliefs, because it will affect them, and I’m more concerned about what makes a politician tick than how well they present a public face.

As a ‘religious leader’ I don’t even have authority over some of the core members of our church, never mind local councillors, MP’s etc.! There’s a question of structure here: the Catholic church would put more authority into what it’s leaders say, most Protestant churches would say that the leader helps people to interpret their faith, but that they don’t have authority to tell people what to do or not do (just ask Rowan Williams…..).

Jesus’ ‘authority’ came from the integrity of a life well lived, and teachings which made sense, and I think that’s still a good model for his followers.

Also, personal religion should be secondary to democratic policies - so religious leaders must acknowledge that they have no authority over elected officials.

What I’m saying is that if people sincerely pursue their religion, it can’t help but have an effect on how they are in public. Someone who becomes a Christian is faced with the challenge to forgive enemies, flee violence, be generous, tell the truth, care for the poor and pursue justice. Those are actions in the public sphere.

Yes there are lots of bad Christians and good atheists, and it probably depends whether you’re measuring objective attainment or value added! There are folk on both sides to whom it doesn’t make much difference, others who are radically changed.

I don’t however, have any problem with people having religious beliefs, so long as they don’t try to preach at me.

If politicians have got convictions (religious or otherwise), then it matters a lot. Either they’ll pursue those convictions in action, or they won’t. It helps for us voters to know a) what convictions a politician is operating from or b) that they profess 1 set of values and live by another (I think the technical term is hypocrisy).