Religion has always been a tricky subject in the public sphere. When combined with a presidential campaign however, religious debate can become even more divisive.

Recently, more than 40 Catholic scholars, including five University of Dayton religious studies professors, called upon two GOP presidential candidates to conduct their campaigns in a manner befitting the faith they profess.

The scholars wrote an open letter to Catholics Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, and asked them to "refrain from offensive rhetoric."

The letter was published on the non-profit organization Faith in Public Life's website last week, and requested the candidates to "stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes on the campaign trail."

These scholars argued that this style of campaigning contradicts the Catholic principles of compassion, forgiveness and love.

We, the Flyer News editors, couldn't help but take notice of this demand.

As a religiously diverse staff, we don't all subscribe to the Catholic tradition. But we do all support campaigning that is respectful, honest and focuses on the issues, without inflammatory racial language.

We applaud these UD faculty members for standing up both for the values of their faith and our democracy.

The next four years present difficult challenges for whoever wins the election in November. As a country, we will watch many, many debates and view scores of attack commercials over the next nine and a half months, but this doesn't mean any candidate should discriminate against any demographic or faith.

We hope all presidential candidates will follow the advice of our religious studies faculty in advancing a more respectful dialogue.