Democratic 2008 front-runner Hillary Clinton candidly admitted on Monday her faith in God helped her survive her public anguish over former president Bill Clinton's infidelity.
"I am not sure I would have gotten through it without my faith," she said, in a live televised forum on religion and politics.
Her remarks were her most direct reference yet in Clinton's presidential campaign of her sometimes troubled marriage that was tested by her husband's affair with Monica Lewinsky, which led to his impeachment.
"I have been tested in ways that are both publicly known and those that are not so well known, or not known at all," Clinton said in the forum televised and co-hosted by CNN and progressive evangelic group Sojourners.
"My faith and the support of my extended faith family, people whom I knew who were literally praying for me in prayer chains, who were prayer warriors for me, and people whom I didn't know, who I would meet or get a letter from sustained me through a very difficult time," she said.
"I am very grateful that I had a grounding in faith that gave me the courage and the strength to do what I thought was right. Regardless of what the world thought and that's all one can expect or hope for," she said.
Clinton said the crucible of life as First Lady would have made her turn to God, even had she not been brought up a Methodist.
"If I had not been a praying person, shortly after getting to the White House, I would have become one in a big hurry," she said.
Bill Clinton's relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky, between 1995 and 1996, cast a shadow over his second term, following a string of allegations over his sexual conduct before he reached the White House.
How Americans will relate to the mixed White House legacy, marked by economic prosperity and peace, but overshadowed by his impeachment, are one of the unanswered questions of her campaign.
Clinton's rivals for the Democratic nomination, John Edwards and Barack Obama, also attended the forum.
"The hand of God today is in every step of what happens with me and every human being that exists on this planet," said Edwards, as he told how his faith was rekindled after the death of his teenage son Wade in a car crash in 1996.
"I strayed away from the Lord for a period of time ... my faith came roaring back during some crises that my family was faced with," he said.
Obama, vying to be the US' first black president, came across with the air of a preacher, as he detailed how social policy was grounded in the verities of faith.
"I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper ... we are connected as a people," Obama said.
Pulpit politics in the US came under renewed scrutiny after exit polls suggested that voters prioritizing "moral issues" may have swung the 2004 election to US President George W. Bush over Democratic challenger John Kerry.
A national exit poll after the election found that 59 percent of Protestants and 52 percent of Roman Catholics voted for Bush, along with 78 percent of evangelicals and 61 percent of people who go to church weekly.
Roman Catholic Kerry, like many Democrats, was reticent about speaking openly about religion, and only reluctantly and awkwardly addressed his faith in the closing days of his unsuccessful campaign.
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