FACTBOX - The faith factors for Obama and McCain

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(Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his Democratic rival Barack Obama will target faith voters on Saturday when they appear at a nationally televised faith forum moderated by California-based evangelical mega preacher Rick Warren.

Faith often plays a big role in U.S. politics, a pointdriven home by the fact that this will be the only event thecandidates will share before their party conventions.

Following are some of the "faith factors" that each wouldbring to the contest and possibly Saturday's conversation.

ARIZONA SEN. JOHN MCCAIN

- Raised in the mainline Episcopal faith but for more than15 years has attended a church in Phoenix affiliated with theSouthern Baptist Convention (SBC), America's largestevangelical denomination and one of its most conservative.

- Widely seen as not being comfortable talking about hispersonal faith though he has spoken movingly about how ithelped him through his ordeal when he was a prisoner-of-warduring the Vietnam conflict.

- Support for stem cell research, failure to support afederal constitutional ban on gay marriage and past criticismof "Religious Right" leaders have made him suspect in the eyesof many conservative evangelical Christians who comprise a keypart of the Republican base.

- About one in four U.S. adults count themselves asevangelical and the movement has been broadening its agendabeyond culture issues such as abortion to activism in areassuch as poverty and climate change.

- This can work to McCain's favour among more centristevangelicals who admire his consistent opposition to abortionrights combined with his condemnation of the use of torture byU.S. forces and more compromising tone on many issues.

- His recent campaign focus on increased U.S. drilling maydisappoint evangelicals committed to a green agenda who werehoping he would take stronger action on climate change.

ILLINOIS SEN. BARACK OBAMA

- An adult convert to the United Church of Christ, amainline Protestant denomination with about 1.2 million membersnationwide. Obama was drawn to the church by his work in the1980s with a faith-based organizing group in Chicago.

- Father came from a Muslim background in Kenya but Obamahas said he was not religious. But this fact and his exoticsounding name to the American ear have given rise to erroneousrumours that the Illinois senator is a Muslim.

- One drawback on the faith front remains the fieryanti-American sermons made by his former pastor Jeremiah Wrightwhich have angered many voters.

But Obama decisively distanced himself from Wright afterthe preacher continued to publicly make his more controversialstatements such as the allegation that the U.S. government mayhave planted AIDS in the in the black community.

Obama also left Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago-- a wrenching decision as it was the church in which he andhis wife were married and where their children were baptized.

- Obama's own widely reported comments about rural whiteworking class voters clinging to their "guns and religion" havealso alienated some potential voters of faith.

- Obama is comfortable talking about his personal faith andhas an outreach program pointedly targeting religious voters.

- Supports abortion rights and the granting of civil unionsfor gay couples. These positions go down well among liberalpeople of faith as well as many secular voters.

(Sources: Reuters, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life,candidates' websites)