I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or snort with disgust. Mitt Romney is a Mormon. Kennedy was a Catholic. The press—and let’s be honest, all of us—are having a field day discussing whether or not his faith will have any bearing on his views and actions if he becomes president of the United States.

Of course, it will. So does (will) Barack Obama’s.

We all have a faith of some kind—a toolbox that we use to analyze what is going on around us. It is that analysis that forms our beliefs—gives us our bias. And that belief shapes everything we think and do every day. That is true for everyone: Christian and atheist, Buddhist and Muslim, agnostic and Marxist, right-winger and left-winger… Everyone of us lives out of what we believe.

And how do we know what people really believe? By looking at the kind of fruit that is hanging from the branches of their lives.

Here’s what I believe in: God the Father Almighty is the maker of heaven and earth (even though he didn’t give me the scientific details, however He made it happen, He is the creator). His only son is my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for my (and every believers’) sins, defeated death and rose again, and is in heaven. He will return to judge both the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, a world-wide body of believers known as the church, the communion of saints, the resurrection of the dead, and life everlasting. God unites love and justice (like oil and water), and He commands me to love him, love myself, and love others. Not only does he command it, but He has given me a helper—the Holy Spirit—who has the strength and power to make it possible.

And I pray every day that my fruit will reflect what I truly believe. If it doesn’t, I need to look to myself to see why my deeds don’t match the words of my mouth–because how I live reveals what I truly hold dear in my soul and heart.

It’s in the book. (James, Bible)