Religion Becoming Political Tool and Hot Topic in Presidential Race

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• GWEN IFILL:

  Well, if there is one thing that holds true around family dinner tables during the holidays, it's that discussions of religion and politics should never mix.

  But the intertwined topics have become a recurring staple this election year, from Mitt Romney's Mormonism to Mike Huckabee's Baptist roots. Just last week, no fewer than six candidates, Republican and Democrat, released campaign ads touching on the holiday season.

  The topic, however, is not taboo at our table. Ray Suarez takes it on.

• RAY SUAREZ:

  Throughout their months on the campaign trail, presidential candidates from both parties have spoken explicitly to voters about their religious faith and how it shapes them. Some of them, like Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, have spent more time talking about it than others, because they get asked.

  Tonight, we get four views on where faith fits in with politics. Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr., is a leader of the Value Voters Summit and founder and chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition.

  Martin Marty is a historian of modern Christianity and a professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where he helped create an institute for the study of religion.

  Edwin Kagin is an atheist and the national legal director for the educational group American Atheists.

  And Richard Cizik is the vice president for government affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents millions of evangelicals in the United States.

  And, Richard Cizik, is there a definable, proper role for religion in a political campaign?