By now most of us are familiar with a sermon delivered by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright who was formerly the pastor at the church Barack Obama attended in Chicago:

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

Obama has rejected, denounced and condemned these comments and he also said this:

Obama said he had never heard Wright preach inflammatory sermons, only the "gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life."

For many conservatives and their diehard Clintonista allies, Obama's words of condemnation about the controversial statements of his former pastor will never be enough. He is to be excoriated and pilloried endlessly for words that he did not himself say and that he has categorically rejected. Apparently, Obama's critics strongly believe that any member of a church should be held personally responsible for each and every statement made by church leaders and the beliefs they promote.

While they ask much of Barack Obama, they have asked little of one of their own, Mitt Romney. As a member of the Mormon Church for his entire life he worshiped at a time when that church had institutionalized a racist ideology that excluded African-Americans from being ordained to the priesthood, and also excluded them from participating in rituals that were essential according to church doctrine for achieving the highest degree of salvation.

Here's what Romney had to say when he heard that the leader of the Mormon church had received a revelation that the policy of discrimination against African Americans should be changed:

"I can remember when I heard about the change being made. I was driving home from -- I think it was law school, but I was driving home -- going through the Fresh Pond rotary in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I heard it on the radio and I pulled over and literally wept.

"Even to this day, it's emotional," Romney went on.

Romney worshiped for years in a church that maintained a blatantly racist policy, but I take him at his word that he didn't agree with these policies just as I take Obama at his word that he rejects Reverend Wright's anti-American diatribes. To do otherwise, is to engage in an endless and pointless game of ad hominem attacks that does nothing to further the important debate we should be having about the future direction of our country.

Mitt Romney and Barack Obama cannot and should not be held accountable for each and every statement made by their religious leaders or their policies. To do otherwise would turn this vital political debate into a contest of religions and the personalities of pastors and church leaders.

All reasonable people can agree that you can attend a church without agreeing with all that is said or taught in that church. I myself attend a Catholic church for years while it supported and raised money for Operation Rescue. I didn't agree with that approach to solving the problem of abortion, but nor did I storm out of the church in protest every time the topic came up. I kept my disagreement to myself and worked to change what I considered to be the radical and counterproductive views of others in my own way. I believe that Obama has been trying to do the same thing within his own community and for that he deserves credit. We need more voices like Obama and fewer like Wright.