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"The days after that, when I was trying to survive and Elizabeth was trying to survive, my faith came roaring back and has stayed with me since that time and helped me deal with the personal challenges we have," Edwards said in an interview with Beliefnet, a spiritual Web site, this year. "Not only the death of my son, but some of the politics and the difficulty of that on our family. Elizabeth's breast cancer. All the things that we've seen, which is not that unusual for families."

They joined Edenton Street United Methodist Church, the downtown Raleigh church that Wade had attended. Edwards became active on the church's administrative board and attended Sunday school, said the Rev. Roger Elliot, the church's senior pastor.

At the invitation of Joe Knott, a conservative Republican lawyer and law school classmate, Edwards started attending Bible study fellowship classes every Monday night at St. Mark's United Methodist Church in suburban North Raleigh.

More openly religious

Edwards did not emphasize his religious reawakening during his 1998 Senate campaign, although other North Carolina Senate candidates, such as Jesse Helms and Elizabeth Dole, both Republicans, often discussed their faith on the campaign trail.

But when he went to the Senate, Edwards was more open about his religious views, becoming co-chairman of the Senate prayer breakfast.

In Washington, the Edwardses were members of the Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church. Since moving to Chapel Hill more than a year ago, they have not joined a church but have been trying out several, according to the Edwards campaign.

In his presidential campaign, Edwards has a staffer responsible for outreach to church groups. His campaign manager, former U.S. Rep. David Bonior of Michigan, is a pro-life former Catholic seminarian who is well-connected in liberal religious circles.

Edwards has wrapped a religious cloak around his effort to focus on the problems of the poor, health care and the environment.

"I think Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs," Edwards said to Beliefnet. "I think he would be appalled, actually."

A poll taken for Time magazine found that 22 percent viewed Edwards as strongly religious compared with 24 percent for Obama, 15 percent for Clinton, 26 percent for former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 15 percent for Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain and 13 percent for former Republican New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Critics on right, left

Although Edwards has been reaching out to spiritual voters, things have not always gone smoothly.

Edwards was criticized by conservatives in February when he declined to fire two campaign bloggers -- Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen -- whose writings before they joined his campaign had offended some. Catholic League President William Donohue called them "anti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigots."

Edwards said he found their writings offensive but decided to give the two women another chance. Shortly thereafter, they resigned.

A spokeswoman for the Catholic League, a New York-based anti-defamation group that is nonpartisan but leans Republican, found Edwards' response "troubling."

"It certainly doesn't show a respect for Catholics that he would show toward any other group," said Kiera McCaffrey, a Catholic League spokeswoman.

Nor has Edwards won over conservative Christian evangelicals. His record in support of abortion rights and gay rights -- he supports civil unions but opposes same-sex marriages -- makes him unacceptable to some on the religious right. After analyzing Edwards' record and statements, Faith and Action, a conservative Washington-based Christian group, concluded on its Web site that Edwards might have been sustained by his faith but he was not "an Evangelical nor any kind of traditionalist."

Edwards has also taken flak from the other side.

At the CNN/YouTube debate last week in Charleston, a North Carolina pastor asked Edwards whether it was right to cite his Southern Baptist upbringing as a reason to oppose same-sex marriage.

"Why is it still acceptable to use religion to deny gay Americans their full and equal rights?" asked the Rev. Reggie Longcrier, pastor of the Exodus Mission and Outreach Church in Hickory.

Edwards said he was conflicted on the issue and that his wife Elizabeth supports same-sex marriages.

"The honest answer is that I don't," Edwards said when asked whether he supported same-sex marriage. "But I think it is absolutely wrong, as president of the United States, for me to have used that faith as a basis for denying anybody their rights, and I will not do that when I'm president of the United States."

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