When decades ago, father of Mitt Romney – who was a mormon- contested elections for Governor in one of the US State, his faith or religion was not under scanner. Now Mitt Romney- a Republican presidential candidate for 2008- faces a tougher turf. His faith is definitely being scrutinized with a wider media and public coverage.

In 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy asked the nation to disregard his religion. In 2000, George W. Bush informed the nation that Jesus was his favorite philosopher.

In his new book, God in the White House, Randall Balmer explores the interplay between religion and politics in America, tracking the “religionization” of the Oval Office across the last half of the 20th century. Balmer is a professor of American religious history at Barnard College. Also the author of the Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism and editor-at-large of Christianity Today, Randall Balmer was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 2006.