I believe there are equally decent, honorable, bright people who have fundamentally different prism through which they view faith in God, so I don't think I have ever, ever judged someone's position based on them differing with my views relating to theological doctrine or my faith."

"

So, as a public official, when you talk about these things, it's important, as a nation that embraces and celebrates its diversity, that we be conscious of being inclusive in our language when we talk about the diversity of religious thought in this country or the absence of it, in some cases.''

That's at the heart and soul of the separation of church and state. My faith is hugely important to me. It's gotten me through some very difficult times in our own family, but I should not be imposing my faith belief on the rest of the country.''

Come from the same sphere of universality. That we have to have the ability to be able to respect all people's beliefs and non-beliefs, and we have to see where the particular faith that we might have has some connection to other people as well. And, if you come from a place of inclusion and acceptance, then you can see what you believe to be true finds a meeting point with someone else, and you can unify in an appreciation for faith with a sense of joy as opposed to a sense of separation. All too often, religion is used to separate people. I think that if we see, if those of us in public life see a sphere for the sacred, if we see that spiritual principles are things to be upheld in a public sphere, not to sacrifice separate church and state, but to understand that the founders had a deeper connection to spiritual values that unite all of us that have nothing to do with religion that relate to something deeper in the human spirit. That's where you find that you can elevate a country's purpose. That's where you can see spiritual principles coming into the material world and sanctifying the material world. That's the kind of approach that I would take as president of the United States, to work for human unity and to see where spiritual principles can be used to strengthen the nation and the world.''

I assume people show me the same respect. On the other hand, I would argue that I hear more in common between people of other faiths than I do differences. And sometimes, we forget that regardless of your religious beliefs, and including if you have no religious beliefs whatsoever, there's some moral underpinnings to most world religions and philosophies that, I think, express some basic truths that are important."

I believe that you have to be tolerant of others' religions. I believe that nondiscrimination on the basis of religion, sexual orientation, should be a goal of anything I pursue. But, the answer is yes, I have participated in ceremonies of another religious faith and felt that they were important. I've attended other services, so I'm tolerant, but I am somebody that believes strongly in my religion."

So, I don't know that that's ever stopped me from expressing my religious beliefs, but I'd always express it in a way in which it showed respect that other people might have a differing view, whether it's a differing view about religion or a differing view about a point of theology. I've had a lot of education in religion, because at two points in my life, I thought about being a priest. I went to Catholic schools, and I studied religion, I studied theology, I studied history of religion. Religion is one of the most important things that motivates human behavior. Even if you weren't religious, you'd have to understand religion to understand human beings. If you drive religion out, I believe you do something very, very harmful to yourself and society with regard to recognizing God's plan, but I also think you do something very harmful in not understanding human beings correctly. So, I don't refrain from expressing my religious views, but I try to express them in a way that shows respect for the religious views of other people. I was mayor of a city that practices every religion. There were a couple of times on weekends where I would go to a mosque on Friday, a synagogue on Saturday and two different churches on a Sunday. And, sometimes, by the time I was finished, I would have this wonderful feeling that we were reaching God. We were reaching God in different languages, different liturgies, different practices. So, I have, you know, tremendous respect for religion as a source for just unbelievable achievements for people, and I think it gets people to the core of what life is all about. "

I think the greatest disrespect one shows, not only to his own religious beliefs, but to another, is to be dishonest. It doesn't bother me if somebody says they're an atheist. It bothers me if somebody is an atheist but tries to present themselves as Christian. That bothers me a lot, because that's dishonest. If a person says, ‘I'm a person of faith, but I don't let it influence me and I don't talk about it,' what they just told me is that their faith is so immaterial, insignificant and inconsequential that it really isn't a faith at all. If it's a faith, it will drive their judgment, it will drive their value system, and therefore, it'll help define them. It's ludicrous to say that I have faith, but it doesn't impact me at all. It's really then saying that it's marginal and frankly expendable in my life and that defies the every heart and essence of faith. So, if a person says, ‘My faith is totally opposite of yours,' terrific! This is a great country, and we can both enjoy this great land of America with very different faiths. It's possible for a person not to have one at all. What isn't appropriate is for a person to say, ‘Oh, I have one, but I'm not going to tell you anything about it' or ‘I have one, but it won't mean anything' or ‘I have one, but I don't want to hear about yours.'''

''

And it was faith that is the fundamental reason that I am alive today. If it were not for my faith in God, and my faith in my country, and my faith in my fellow prisoners in the Vietnam conflict, I would not be here today. So, no, I'm not reluctant to not only express my faith, but to describe to people how important faith can be to all of us, as it was to me, in times of difficult trials."

And, I give a concession to those who are not religious that I believe in natural rights, rather than conceding that government grants us our right to our life and our right to our liberty and therefore they own us. So, I reject the notion that the government owns us by rejecting the principle of the income tax as well as totally rejecting the military draft, which implies that the government owns us and owns our children. So, I am very clear on those positions."

Virtually every faith I've ever seen makes people better. There's some people who distort a faith and turn it into a weapon of evil of some kind, but by and large, the religions of the world, at least the ones that I've come in contact with, make people better people, and so there's a great deal of truth and good in the religions. I strongly believe that people of faith add to the stability and the greatness of this great country."

I think a lot of that has to do with a person's personality. Some people are a little less reticent to talk about any aspect of their personal life. You know there's nothing that I love more than my family and various members of the family, and I could talk about each one of them all day. And I do some, but it's never totally comfortable. You never know to what extent people might think you're exploiting the situation. There's some things that really can only fully be comprehended by a person's heart and their relationship with God and that communication. And it's a little difficult sometimes to talk too much in too public a way, as you never know how people are going to view that. People ask me specific questions, you know, about things — some of which I answer — some of which I don't."

I think the reasonable test is a metric that I would apply. Is it something that reasonably advances national security and doesn't unreasonably reduce the rights of American citizens. And, I think it all has to be done against the context of how severe the threat is.''

"

''

I grew up in a family of public servants, a family of teachers. My father served in public life as a U.S. attorney, a prosecutor at Nuremburg, a member of Congress over the years. So, I remember him answering a question one day, just before he died, knowing how his life ended and it wasn't pleasant, would he do it all over again, and he said, ‘In a minute, because I know of no other calling in life where you can affect as many people's lives for good than you can through public service.' And so, my loyalties extend beyond my family in the sense to the communities and neighborhoods, trying to do what I can, in this limited amount of time we've got on this Earth, to try to do what I can to make a difference for people."

I mean, one of the reasons that I want to be president is I came from nothing to having everything, and no matter where you live, who your family is, the family you're born into, or the color of your skin, I want desperately for everybody else to have that chance. That's where my loyalty is''

I think that's where my concerns show no boundaries. When I read about children who are suffering in any part of the world, I can put myself in the shoes of their parents and think about those children in the way I think about my own children. Which is why, for example, expanding our foreign aid and making certain that all children have food, shelter, clothing, safety is so important for me.''

I believe that I have a responsibility, as a governor, to make my state better. I have a responsibility, as a presidential candidate, to commit the values that promote family justice just like my Catholic faith. And then lastly, I feel a certain loyalty to the international community. We're all international citizens. We all have an obligation to reduce pollution on the planet and to stop wars and to help those that have been left behind and commitments to feed the hungry and help the world."

I have, you know, tremendous loyalty to the people I work with. You know, I've always had tremendous loyal to the people that work with me in New York City who did so many wonderful things that I got credit for. I'd often say, whenever I was given credit for something, that I rest on the shoulders of giants and these other people that accomplish things. I guess I'd include, among country and family, my close friends. I have tremendous loyalty to them. You don't get through life without the help of other people, and you've got to be able to reciprocate that. I have tremendous loyalty to the people that helped me get where I am — my parents, my teachers, some of the religious figures that helped me. I went to Catholic schools most of my life. Then, I have tremendous loyalty to the people that helped me in the legal profession — the judge I clerked for. So, there are a lot of them, but I, you know, when you say loyalty to country and family and friends, well, that kind of encompasses, I think, 90 percent of people's loyalties where they are and where they should be."

''

I think, freedom.''

That's the basis of my loyalties and beliefs as to how government should behave and how we became the greatest and noblest nation on Earth."

That means he has the obligation to work for virtue, to provide for himself economically, and care for his family. So, liberty is very, very important to me. That, of course, puts more responsibility on the individual and on the family."

"

You may recall, I was the first one to raise that issue in the (Robert) Bork hearings. My argument in the opening statement with Bork was, ‘I believe I have certain inalienable rights, not because the Constitution gave them to me, merely because I'm born, merely because I'm a child of God. No other reason. Not imposed on me or given to me or granted to me by the government.' And, I pointed out that Judge Bork believed the every right he has flows from a guarantee in the Constitution. Difference between enumerated and unenumerated rights, and one of those unenumerated rights is the right to be let alone."

If you don't want people knocking down the door of your home and coming in without appropriate legal authority, it's because you have a right to privacy in that home, just like you have the right to the privacy of your thoughts and the people you associate with. So, those who argue that there is ‘no explicit right to privacy in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,' I think, miss the point that a right to privacy — respect for the personhood of each individual — is imbedded in our Constitution. It was part of the experience of our founders in rejecting the distant rule of the British Empire, because they wanted to be let alone to live their lives as they saw fit and to govern themselves and that implies, for me, a right to privacy.''

I'm one of the few guys. Robert C. Byrd gave me it. I carry it seven days a week in my pocket. Given to me 25 years ago by ol' Robert C. Byrd, my seatmate in the Senate, and I believe the right to privacy is there, absolutely. What more of an answer do you need than that?''

But, yeah, I think there's a constitutional right that all Americans have not to have the government and, in some cases, others invade our private domain. Now, unfortunately, when you run for president of the United States, you give up some of that, which I've learned firsthand, but that's just what goes with the territory. If you want to serve the country, you have to be willing to make some sacrifices, and that's one of them.''

You know, I opposed the Patriot Act for that reason. I think that a woman's right to choose is connected directly to the issue of privacy. I mean, we have to have a sphere of privacy. People should be able to be free to marry whomever they want, without regard to whether or not society thinks that a man should marry a man or a woman should marry a woman. The state has to provide a path for people to have legal recognition of that unity in a marriage. So, you know, is there a right to privacy? You bet there is, and that's something that's quintessentially American. That we can be united in our expression of community, but at the same time respect the individuality of each person and their right to be private and the right to be free from government reaching deeply into people's personal lives. I want to get government out of people's bedrooms. I want to get government out of people's mail and off their phones. I want to get government into making sure we provide resources for education and health care and job creation and environment. That's where government ought to be.''

"

It's a constitutional right. In fact, if I am made president, I will ask any Supreme Court nominee, ‘Do you respect the right to privacy?' and if their answer is something that is wishy-washy, I won't appoint them."

Privacy certainly means that people don't have a right to poke a camera into your windows in your home. And, I think they should have an expectation, and it's not just based on privacy, but based on the greater sense of we should be protected from unlawful search and seizure to have people peering around in all our personal lives to see whether or not they can find something without just cause to look.''

So, in things like the war against terror, the need for Americans to be able to tell when terrorists are planning attacks against the United States sometimes involves wiretapping, involves getting information from sources that you otherwise would not receive that information from, and that, to some degree, results in a compromise not only of privacy, but also the convenience of the American people. So, I think it has to be balanced with security requirements.''

And that's why I think that there has to be participation of the courts, the legislature, the executive branch and the American people to what measures we take to protect the rights of privacy, but also we have the also the responsibility to protect the security of the individual. So, it's a careful balancing act, and I think that this back and forth will go on for as long as we're in this struggle against radical Islamic extremism and they are using cyberspace in a way that can damage our national interest."

I'm disturbed by the fact that our government in recent years, if not in recent decades, that we have moved toward the most important thing that our government does is protect the secrecy of government. And, you know, if they have a bill that talks about financial privacy, it means government secrecy and invasion of personal privacy. So, right now, personal privacy is being attacked. The role of the federal government, in particular, or any government, should be to protect privacy — privacy of the individual. And, we should work very hard, unless it's extremely close to national-security reasons, that government should be open. There should not be secrecy in government."

I think it's a stretch beyond the bounds of the Constitution itself. We follow precedent, however, that's been established by the Supreme Court, so that has a certain rule of precedent, but I think we're better off by strictly following the Constitution as it existed and as it was brought forward. And, if we think there's a need for a new right, then going to the people or their elected representatives to establish that right rather than having judges, from their heart or their own mind, establishing new rights and new laws. It's not for judges to legislate or to create a new Constitution. That's something that only the people and their elected representatives should be able to do."

I no longer am going to keep that promise.' But I've not accomplished everything that I promised I would try to accomplish, but I haven't given up on anything I promised I would do.''

But, I've tried not to promise I could get it done, but that I would do everything within my power to accomplish it.''

I've actually wrote people. I voted against James Buckley to be a federal judge. I ran against him, and it was just petty, nasty thing. And, after a few years, he did a great job, and I felt so badly about it, I wrote him an apology. I couldn't take the vote back, but I kind of regret I voted against you. I did the same thing with Everett Koop, who I thought would be a dreadful surgeon general. Turned out to be a great one. My best help on the Family Medical Leave Act, when I wrote that legislation. So, those are commitments that I've made to myself, I'd never allow those judgments to interfere with making good calls, and I've made them, but I tried to correct them in the lives of these people to write them at least and tell them I couldn't have the vote back, but I regretted the vote."

I mean, I'm the one who cast the vote, I had the responsibility, and I was wrong.''

When I was mayor of Cleveland, elected mayor 30 years ago in 1977, I was elected on a promise to save the city's municipal electric system. On Dec. 15, 1978, the largest bank in the state told me you're going to either sell that system to a private utility, in which the bank had a financial interest, or the bank was not going to renew the city's credit, and I refused to sell the system. I kept my promise to the people, even though it later on proved to have cost me my job. It took me 15 years to make a comeback, and people saw I did the right thing. I stood by my commitment to the people. The American people need to know that, when that as president, when I'm elected president, they'll have someone that can not only keep his word, but can take a stand to do the right thing, regardless of the pressures.''

But, I would say that those promises that I've made politically, I've always stayed true to in terms of continually pushing and trying to meet the objectives that I've set up."

I've taken positions that I regret today, but I've never reneged on a promise. I believe there's a bond between the voter and the political leader that cannot be broken. It's OK to make, I believe, factual mistakes, forget something, but when you don't keep your word, when an individual I know doesn't keep their word, that is, for me, not just a show of disloyalty, but a show of dishonesty."

That's the first thing. You don't go out there and just make these outlandish promises: I'm going to eliminate everybody's taxes, and I'm going to do things that you know you can't do. The biggest promise I think I tried to make was that I will do my very best under the Constitution and by every ounce of energy I have to remember that my duty is to responsibly seek to serve this public who has elected me in a way that improves the life for them, their children, and the future generations.''

And, when you put together a budget, for example, a budget to increase defense spending and that budget, which increases defense spending may have also pork-barrel programs that you don't like, and you promised your constituents you'll fight against pork-barrel programs. In the end, if you vote for the budget of the United States, you vote for a lot of things. And so, in that sense, in the sense of reconciling and compromising in large legislative packages, those packages always manifest, to some degree, some reduction in your absolute goals that you've espoused to your community.''

But I have never deliberately done such a thing, but certainly, I have made mistakes. And, the important thing is to not to believe that you're never going to make a mistake, but the important thing is to learn from your mistakes and never repeat them."

They will say, ‘Well, we don't agree with all your issues, but we know where you stand, and we know you will keep your promises.' And, my ultimate promise, as a legislator, has been the Constitution, and as a president that would be my loyalty to my promise to obey the law. To me, the rule of law is equally as important as the issue itself.''

I'll give some thought to that, but nothing springs to mind at this point. When I ran for office, I asked, at the end of my campaign, the person who traveled with me, to write down every campaign promise I had made and it turned out to be, I think, 92 promises. I added eight more during my inauguration address to round it to 100, and then I published those 100 promises and then my progress toward each one of them. I fought for every single one and delivered many — couldn't get all of them through my legislature, but fought for every single one."

The people who I was accountable to, when I was an elected official, elected me and re-elected me by large margins, and I left office apparently more popular than when I went in. I don't think they ever thought I reneged on a promise. If there ever came a time where over the years, I had a different view about something or I had a more nuanced view or more complete view about something because of new facts I'd learned, I'd usually just explain that to people and tell them what the deal was, but I wouldn't consider that a promise reneged."

I went down to my library and I started going through the library and I literally counted 28 books I had read in the last two years and not one was fiction. And it's funny, the older I get the more passionate I become about the things that tweak my curiosity and the things I work on. So, it's kind of interesting, I find that I go to literature and I have a great advantage. Being a senior United States senator, I literally have at my disposal the ability to pick up a phone and call any Nobel laureate in the world and say, ‘Come talk to me,' and they'll come talk to me. I mean, it is the single greatest gift that was given by this job is having access to whomever you want, and I take advantage of it a lot."

Sometimes, you know, complete books that people have written about a subject that I'm interested in. And then, I just try to find as much time as I can. It was easier before I started running for president, I have to say. You know, I really, I felt like, you know, I could tackle nearly anything. You know, when I got on the Senate Armed Services Committee, I had to immerse myself in everything from missile defense to, you know, body armor, and I really had the time, and I obviously took the time. So, I just have to work even harder, I have to sleep even less to stay up to speed. I take issues seriously, because it makes a difference. You know, the Children's Health Insurance program has insured 5 million kids. And, that makes a difference in how, you know, you understand it and you defend it and you try to advocate for it. You really have to know what you're talking about, so I'm one of those who likes to immerse myself.''

To this day, I don't know, after 32 years, what political party anyone who's ever worked for me belonged to. I've always tried to just hire good people who would care about it, who would know a lot more than I do. It's not hard to know a lot more than I do, so it's been an easy bar to cross over the years. And then you try and read and listen to other people — get different points of view. I've often said, you know, to organizations who invite people like myself to come and speak, that it might not be a bad idea if they'd invite us to come and listen for an hour, instead of preparing a speech, just come and be quiet and li