Quotes of the Day

JOHN MCCAIN: A Light Amid the Darkness

My mother has recounted to me how when I was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, she sometimes overheard my father praying for me. He was in charge of U.S. forces in the Pacific at the time and suffered from the burden of commanding a war in a country where his son was imprisoned. As my mother recalled, she could hear my father in his study, on his knees, beseeching God to "show Johnny mercy."

My father would have been surprised to know what unlikely forms God's mercy could take. In prison, my captors would tie my arms behind my back and then loop the rope around my neck and ankles so that my head was pulled down between my knees. I was often left like that throughout the night. One night a guard came into my cell. He put his finger to his lips signaling for me to be quiet and then loosened my ropes to relieve my pain. The next morning, when his shift ended, the guard returned and retightened the ropes, never saying a word to me.

A month or so later, on Christmas Day, I was standing in the dirt courtyard when I saw that same guard approach me. He walked up and stood silently next to me, not looking or smiling at me. Then he used his sandaled foot to draw a cross in the dirt. We stood wordlessly looking at the cross, remembering the true light of Christmas, even in the darkness of a Vietnamese prison camp.

This guard was my Good Samaritan. I will never forget that fellow Christian, and I will never forget that moment. I will always remember as well the Christmas services that my fellow prisoners and I held in a cell, when I gave thanks to God for the blessings he had granted me with the company of men I had come to admire and love.

In the life of our country, faith serves the same ends that it can serve in the life of each believer, whatever creed we might profess. It sees us through life's trials. It instills humility, calling us to serve a cause greater than ourselves. At its best, faith reminds us of our common humanity and our essential equality by the measure that matters most.

A living faith calls us as well to care for the most vulnerable members of society. The poor, the hungry, the stranger seeking shelter and the child waiting to be born — all are in need of our compassion and protection. Faith shows us that the weak and defenseless are not a problem but rather a priority, and a chance for us to live out the message of the Gospels.

That message can reach into any place, however dark. Even in solitary confinement, when everything else has been taken away, nothing can separate us from the love of our Creator.

See pictures of John McCain on the campaign trail.

See pictures of John McCain's family tree.

BARACK OBAMA: Changing Hearts and Minds

I began my Christian journey over 20 years ago, as a young man fresh out of college. And since that time I've been serious not only about deepening my relationship with Christ but also about the way that all Americans can live together in our diverse, pluralistic society.

I think there are some lessons that Americans from all political persuasions might learn in this regard, lessons that I take to heart each day. We have to start by remembering the role that values play in addressing some of our most urgent social problems. As I've said many times, the problems of poverty and war, the uninsured and the unemployed aren't simply technical problems in search of a 10-point plan. They're rooted in societal indifference and individual callousness — in the imperfections of man.

For example, I believe in tough law enforcement and commonsense gun laws to keep our children safe from an epidemic of violence. But I also believe that when a gangbanger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels somebody disrespected him, that's not just a government problem — it's a moral problem. There's a hole in that young man's heart. Solving problems like this will require changes in government policy, but it will also require a change in hearts and a change in minds. That's a lesson that friends of mine like Pastor Rick Warren and Bishop T.D. Jakes know well.

I also think we must remember that there are a range of moral-values issues that must be addressed in our families, our communities and our government. My values speak to the 47 million Americans suffering without health care, the care of soldiers and civilians in Iraq and veterans back home, the expanse of God's creation that is warming day by day, the single mothers struggling to provide for their families and the fathers who are too often absent from the scene. I don't believe we should ignore the debate over traditional "values issues" at the expense of these other moral challenges. But we can't just talk about "family values." We actually have to stand up for policies that value families.

I hope we'll get into these tough topics and others at Saddleback. The next President will have to lead Americans of all religious and secular backgrounds and will navigate a range of tough values issues. I would be honored to have that weighty opportunity, and I hope to continue this conversation in the months to come.

See TIME's best pictures of Barack Obama.

See pictures of Barack Obama's family tree.