Religion and politics are constant bedfellows, so it's no surprise that Catholics aren't the only ones weighing in on this election. Among the religious voices raised in the early going of the short, six-week campaign, Muslims and Jews each have their concerns.

{mosimage}TORONTO  - Close to 500 people are expected at an upcoming international pro-life conference in Toronto.

The conference, entitled “Creating a Culture of Life Around the Globe,” will run from Oct. 2 to 4 and is sponsored by Campaign Life Coalition .

{mosimage}OTTAWA - Two of Ottawa’s best known religious leaders have issued a joint declaration challenging a move to force Ontario’s physicians to set aside their own conscience and religious beliefs when they conflict with a patient’s request.

Roman Catholic Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., and Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka said Sept. 11 that they are “deeply disturbed” by a new policy being considered by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. This policy could require doctors to perform abortions or other types of treatments even if they contradict their own beliefs.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Less than two weeks after approving an Alberta-based pornographic channel, the CRTC ’s decision to deny the application of two Ottawa-area Christian radio stations is drawing mixed reactions, with some groups alleging there is an anti-Christian bias.

Ottawa’s CHRI Radio was proposing a new FM station featuring Christian talk radio with traditional worship music aimed at an older audience. And Gatineau, Que., resident Fiston Kalabay Mutombo put forward a proposal for a French-language Christian music station.

We know Canadians love hearing about the American election. Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are just way more interesting than our blancmange politicians up here. Now you can get a truly Catholic perspective on the U.S. campaign from Catholic News Service, one of the most authoritative sources you can find.

In its Elections 2008 feature, the Christian, non-profit group Citizens for Public Justice is advocating a review of key election issues from a public justice lens. "A public justice lens challenges us to express love for our neighbour and seek the common good. It puts the values of justice, compassion and care for creation at the centre of political debates," according to its web site.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The Catholic  Organization For Life and Family wants families to discover the sexual liberation buried in long-neglected Catholic teaching.

In its annual message to families, COLF uses the "theology of the body" as a way of talking about sexuality. COLF's goal is to disentangle thinking about sex from  sexual politics, commercialization, media images and pornography.

Catholics aren't the only Christians interested in politics. At www.ecumenism.net the ecumenical movement in Canada is highlighting all the election guides and kits put out by various churches.

{mosimage}TORONTO - By giving back his Order of Canada, Montreal Archbishop Jean-Claude Turcotte is joining a group of more than 100 MPs whose opposition to Dr. Henry Morgentaler's nomination has shone the election spotlight on the abortion debate in Canada, says a leading pro-life group.

Campaign Life Coalition national organizer Mary Ellen Douglas said Turcotte's Sept. 11 annoucement comes just three days after a Campaign Life ad, which appeared in the Sept. 8 edition of The Hill Times, a political newspaper in Ottawa, where the names of 106 Conservative and Liberal politicians opposing pro-abortion doctor Morgentaler's nomination were published.

Canada's Catholic bishops have released a four-page Federal Election 2008 Guide on their web site. The bishops take on complacency and apathy. "Catholics have an obligation to be interested in politics," they write in the introduction.