RELIGION, LEGISLATION OFTEN HARD TO SEPARATE.

Byline: LISA FRIEDMAN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Faith guides Southern California members of Congress but doesn't dictate their positions -- usually.

But on hot-button issues including abortion, gay marriage or the death penalty, some of the region's Republican lawmakers say their personal religious beliefs directly determine their votes and the policies they help create for Los Angeles and the nation.

But the region's Democrats tend to draw a straight line between their religious values and positions on poverty and the environment, while they insist that faith should not play a role in reproductive rights.

For Americans, the issue is key: A survey released last month by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that more than 40 percent of respondents believe religion's influence on government is increasing -- and most view that as a bad thing.

ABORTION

Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, is Mormon, and his faith, he said, teaches him that ``we existed before we got here, we came here to get a body, and we'll one day resurrect based on how we live here.''

It's a belief system, he said, that makes any vote condoning abortion impossible.

``This is a small part of eternity,'' he said of the yet-unborn. ``I believe every spirit born into this world is here to get an experience.''

Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, a nondenominational Christian, said he believes life begins at conception, and he also uses that belief to guide his votes.

Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, is Catholic but among many area Democrats in Congress who say they feel a responsibility to set aside religious teachings and even personal religious beliefs when it comes time to vote.

``I know the Church says no,'' Solis said about abortion. But, she said, ``This is a private matter. It's not something that involves the government.''

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, who is Jewish, noted that his religion does not hold the same beliefs that many Christians hold about the fetus and does not fit easily into camps that call themselves ``pro-life'' or ``pro-choice.''

While scholars say deliberate harm to the fetus is forbidden, they also agree that Jewish law considers the physical and mental health of the mother paramount.

``I don't see why those who are against abortion and contraception should impose their views on those who don't accept that point of view,'' Waxman said.

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, who also is Jewish, said religion plays no part in his pro-abortion voting record.

``It's crazy to legislate something that is so personal and so important to a woman,'' he said. ``Do I think there's a moral question there about the fetus? Yes. But it doesn't transcend other considerations.''

Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, is Protestant and a strong opponent of abortion. But he, too, said it's not a position he comes to because of religious teachings.

``I don't believe it's because the church has told me `This is bad' or `This is right,''' he said. ``I think when you have a viable life, clearly that's not a decision in my mind. It's taking a human life.''

GAY MARRIAGE

The region's lawmakers came down along similar lines on the almost equally contentious issue of gay marriage.

``I come at the issue from a personal-freedom standpoint,'' said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, who voted against a recent effort to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage.

Remarked Waxman: ``How marriage is conducted isn't government's business. We ought to allow people to get married any way they want.''

Southern California Republicans, who voted recently in favor of the proposed constitutional amendment, said they have no personal animosity toward homosexuals but oppose same-sex unions because of their religious convictions.

``I don't support it, but I don't go out and condemn people who are gay,'' Miller said. ``I don't think it's appropriate, and that's just my belief. Whether you want to call it a religious belief or a cultural belief or a traditional belief, you can attribute it to all of that.''

Added Gallegly: ``Does religion influence me on this? I'm sure, subconsciously, if not consciously, it does.''

LIFE SUPPORT

Positions on end-of-life decisions tended to include more personal discretion. In some cases, lawmakers have had to shoulder the burden of taking a loved one off life support.

Miller said he faced the decision with his mother about 15 years ago.

``Her body just shut down,'' he said. ``I always remember her telling me she didn't want to be kept alive that way. Nevertheless, it was very hard for me to sign the paperwork.''

Miller, like most Southern California lawmakers, did not return to Congress for the emergency session last year to try to prevent a federal court from removing Terry Schiavo's feeding tube.

He said he does not know how he would have voted.

Berman, who also made the decision to take his mother off life support -- a decision he said he made after consulting his rabbi -- also missed the vote.

But his position, he said, is clear.

``I thought it was ridiculous,'' he said of congressional involvement in the issue.

WAR

Ecclesiastes declares ``There is a time for war and a time for peace.''

But for the region's lawmakers, making war is a purely secular decision.

``I think countries should defend themselves,'' Miller said.

McKeon said he views war as a last resort. But he also noted that one of the 13 Articles of Faith, describing the fundamental beliefs of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is to sustain government.

``At times you have to fight for your principles,'' he said.

Berman said religious considerations have had far less influence than history on his foreign-policy decisions -- particularly when it comes to his vote in favor of the Iraq war and his continued support.

``People say to me, `Your vote for Iraq, it's because of Israel, isn't it?' It's absolutely not. I see what happened in World War II, and I can't help but believe that if we had dealt with Hitler two or three years earlier than we did, the Holocaust would have been avoided.

``It's history, but for a Jew it's a particularly poignant part of history,'' he said.

DEATH PENALTY

The death penalty also blurs lines of both party and religious affiliations.

Rep. Adam Schiff, a Pasadena Democrat and former federal prosecutor, said he supports the death penalty as a method of deterrence.

``I'm not enough of a religious scholar to tell you what Judaism says about the death penalty,'' Schiff said. But, he added, ``if someone was deterred by the death penalty from murdering an innocent person, that life was saved.''

Solis, who has been deeply involved in addressing the disappearances and murders of more than 400 women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, said she has found her views shifting in favor of the death penalty.

``For a long time, I thought I was against the death penalty because I didn't know if it was a deterrent. Now, though, when I see some of the horrendous crimes that go on ...,'' she trailed off. ``I don't know that my religion dominates that whole process.''

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com

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