The New York Times on Saturday published a major feature on Hilary Rodham Clinton and her faith:<\/p>\n
Long before her beliefs would be tested in the most wrenching of ways as first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton taught an adult Sunday school class on the importance of forgiveness. It is a lesson, she says, that she has harked back to often.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all have things that oftentimes we\u2019re upset about, or ashamed of, or feel guilty over, and so many people carry these enormous burdens around,\u201d\u009d Mrs. Clinton said in a recent interview. \u201cOne of the great gifts of faith is to let it go.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The themes of wrongs, forgiveness and reconciliation have played out repeatedly in Mrs. Clinton\u2019s life, as she has endured the ordeal of her husband\u2019s infidelity, engaged in countless political battles and shared a deep, mutual distrust with adversaries.<\/p>\n
Her Methodist faith, Mrs. Clinton says, has guided her as she sought to repair her marriage, forgiven some critics who once vilified her and struggled in the bare-knuckles world of politics to fulfill the biblical commandment to love thy neighbor.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Clinton, the New York senator who is seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, has been alluding to her spiritual life with increasing regularity in recent years, language that has dovetailed with efforts by her party to reach out to churchgoers who have been voting overwhelmingly Republican.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Clinton\u2019s references to faith, though, have come under attack, both from conservatives who doubt her sincerity (one writer recently lumped her with the type of Christians who \u201cbelieve in everything but God\u201d\u009d) and liberals who object to any injection of religion into politics. And her motivations have been cast as political calculation by detractors, who suggest she is only trying to moderate her liberal image.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people have developed opinions about her,\u201d\u009d said John C. Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. \u201cSenator Clinton has a long history of involvement in religious matters and appears to be a person of deep and sincere faith, but a lot of people don\u2019t perceive her that way.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Clinton and others who have known her as a church youth-group member, a Sunday school teacher or a participant in weekly Senate prayer breakfasts say faith has helped define her, shaping everything from her commitment to public service to the most intimate of decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has certainly been a huge part of who I am, and how I have seen the world and what I believe in, and what I have tried to do in my life,\u201d\u009d Mrs. Clinton said in the half-hour interview devoted to her religious convictions, which her campaign granted only after months of requests.<\/p>\n
Ever the good student, Mrs. Clinton can speak knowledgeably about St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and John Wesley, the father of Methodism.<\/p>\n
On the campaign trail or in other public appearances, she increasingly is speaking more personally about faith, sprinkling in references to inspiring biblical verses ( \u201cfaith without works is dead,\u201d\u009d from James), Jesus\u2019 injunction to care for the needy and even her daily prayer life, which she credits to being raised in a \u201cpraying family.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n