Religious Beliefs and Politics

With Election Day looming ahead and the nail-biting final days of campaigning, the Good Old Party seems to be doing everything to ruin their chances of winning majority control of the Senate.  An editorial from Huffington Post recounts the latest in GOP remarks on rape and abortion.  This article caught my attention because it seems throughout this election I've heard more about religious beliefs than any previous elections.  

During the last Indiana Senate debate the candidates were asked their opinions on abortion.   Richard Mourdock had the following remarks:

“The only exception I have to have an abortion is in the case of the life of the mother," said Mourdock, the Tea Party-backed state treasurer. "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

I’m amazed anyone can make a remark like that in the wake of Senator Candidate Todd Aiken’s now famous ignorant comment that "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”  I’m not saying that Mourdock isn’t a kind hearted person with genuinely heartfelt feelings on conception.  He appears to be someone who is deeply concerned about preserving human life.  I don’t think that Mourdock was trying to say that God intends for rape to happen, but I do believe that he set himself up to be portrayed in a negative way by Democrats.  What I don’t understand is why Republicans have been consistently bringing God and their personal religious beliefs into election discussions.  Yes, the majority of citizens in the United States do believe in God, but what about the separation of church and state?  Why can’t the candidates just say I’m pro-life and I’m for returning the issue of abortion to the State-level?  Why can’t they leave their religious beliefs out of it? Especially when 76% of their own party believes that abortion should be legal in the case of rape.  While I do believe that everyone has the right to their own personal beliefs in regards to this sensitive issue, I think that Republicans need to focus more on public opinion and policy instead of voicing their individual (and ignorant) feelings on the issue.