GRANTHAM, Pa. — A candidate forum devoted to issues of faith and justice became another flash point for Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton to spar in their intensifying nominating fight, with the candidates exchanging frosty glances on Sunday night as their paths briefly crossed on stage.
The Democratic contenders addressed the Compassion Forum at Messiah College here, one after the other. Their cold, quick encounter as they traded places on the stage reflected the hostility between them over the past two days as Clinton has repeatedly hammered Obama for remarks he made at a fundraiser suggesting that some voters turned to religion and guns as consolation for their bitterness about their economic hardship.
In response to the first question at the forum, Clinton repeated her charge that Obama's remarks were "elitist, out of touch and, frankly, patronizing." She said his words helped perpetuate the idea that Democrats looked down their noses at church-going Americans and hunters, an attitude many Democrats believe contributed to their last two presidential losses.
Obama once again sought to clarify and defend his comments, which he made in the closed-door fundraiser in San Francisco a week ago. He said his words had been distorted and misconstrued.
"That was in no way a demeaning of a faith that I myself embrace," Obama said. "When economic hardship hits, they have faith, they have family, they have traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation. Those are not bad things. Those are the things that are left."
Nine days before the fiercely contested Pennsylvania primary, the two candidates sought through their appearance at this small Christian college to reassure voters that they share their values. They sought to close the so-called God gap that has benefited Republicans over the past several election cycles.
Sen. John McCain, of Arizona, the likely Republican nominee, chose not to participate.
The sponsors of Sunday night's forum hoped it would be an exercise in earnestness on pressing moral and social issues, a 90-minute break from the political thrust and parry of the presidential campaign trail. And for the most part, the questioners and candidates complied, addressing the candidates' religious beliefs in at times starkly personal terms but insisting that they were far too humble to seek to impose them on others.
The forum was held on the eve of the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in the United States, and as the subject of religion was swirling heavily through the Democratic presidential contest.
Both made indirect appeals to Roman Catholic voters. Clinton mentioned the pope's impending visit and praised his commitment to health and poverty issues around the world. In response to a question about when life began, Clinton replied, "I believe that the potential for life begins at conception."
Obama highlighted his own ties to the Catholic Church, saying that he had once attended a Catholic school in Indonesia and shared the experiences of a Catholic education with many Americans.
Clinton spoke fluidly and comfortably about her Methodist upbringing and how faith has guided her and comforted her since she was a child.
Obama noted several times that his Christian faith underlies his commitment to social justice and was a central part of his work as a community organizer in Chicago before he went into elected politics. He also defended his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., who has delivered scathing sermons portraying the United States as a racist, warmongering nation. Obama was forced to address those comments, repudiating Wright's most radical views while saying he still felt a strong bond to a man who helped bring him to his Christian faith.
"There's been this notion that he was, by various terms, my spiritual adviser or my spiritual mentor. You know, he's been my pastor," Obama said. He called some of Wright's comments "deeply offensive and are contrary to what I believe."
Clinton and Obama are competing for working-class white voters in Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and several other states as the primary season enters its final phase. Many swing voters in these states are Catholics or self-described evangelical Christians, and their votes could prove decisive, not only in these final Democratic primaries but in the general election as well.
Obama said that because his father's family was Muslim and he lived for more than four years in Indonesia as a child, he had great respect for Islam and believed that Muslims could join members of other faiths in solving the world's problems.
Obama, in response to a request from Jim Wallis, the president of Sojourners, a progressive religious group, said he would seek to cut poverty in America in half within 10 years, although he said circumstances could undermine his good intentions.
Clinton comfortably adopted the language of the Christian believer in addressing a question about how faith guides her in life. "You know, I have, ever since I've been a little girl, felt the presence of God in my life," she said. "And it has been a gift of grace that has, for me, been incredibly sustaining."
She said she had felt God's grace as she faced unfaithfulness in her marriage as well as in more uplifting moments in her life. "It didn't have to be a hard time," she said. "You know, it could be taking a walk in the woods. It could be watching a sunset."
Both candidates were asked whether they believed God was informing their approach to politics or somehow blessing their candidacies.
"Well," Clinton said, smiling and pausing, "I could be glib and say we'll find out, but I — I don't presume anything about God."
Asked a similar question, Obama replied, "It takes a certain self-righteousness where we think we have a direct line to God." He added a moment later, "The public square is not the place for us to empower ourselves in that way."