For Arnie Alpert, a Jew who has worked for the American Friends Service Committee for 26 years, it is impossible to say where his faith ends and his political activism begins.

"It's like talking to a career politician - which is political, which is personal?" Alpert said. "Religion and politics are not separable. . . . Your religious conviction is expressed by what you do more than what you say or think, and the way we are in the world is intimately connected to our faith."

Liberal voters like Alpert, who lives in Canterbury, are trying hard this election to wrest the title of "value voters" away from the religious right. Recent interviews with local religious leaders and congregations indicate that many are using biblical values to promote traditionally liberal policies, such as greater attention to the environment, poverty and social justice. Religious values have also entered the foreign policy debate, particularly in opposition to the Iraq war.

Reflecting this attitude, Democratic candidates are talking more about religion than ever before. In June, the Christian social justice group Sojourners hosted a forum on religion, faith and politics with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. All three of those candidates have spoken openly about their personal faith.

On the campaign trail, Obama has held "faith forums" across New Hampshire, where voters discussed how religion should influence public life, and his campaign has reached out to more than 100 religious leaders in the state. Edwards worked with interfaith volunteers on Hurricane Katrina relief and union mobilization this summer. Clinton has hired a strategist experienced at winning over religious voters.

Sarah Jane Knoy of Manchester has tried to encourage this connection between candidates and religious Democratic voters. Knoy is the lead organizer for the Granite State Organizing Project, which represents 30 New Hampshire churches with concerns about health care, housing, employment, education and immigration.

"We see the importance of people of faith expressing their values in the context of the first-in-the-nation primary," she said. "We also believe very strongly that values don't belong to just one party."

For many liberal churches, the main religious issues relate to social justice.

"There are only six verses in the Bible about homosexuality, but hundreds dealing with, how do we treat the least of these?" said Jean O'Bresky, associate minister for community outreach at First Congregational Church in Concord.

David Keller, pastor of the same church, is looking for a candidate who understands how government works and "articulates a vision that puts justice first."

He will not talk political specifics from the pulpit, but he will discuss moral or ethical issues, which are often tied to politics. He might discuss access to health care as an issue of economic justice.

"Christian faith has a mandate to stand up for the most marginalized, the forgotten people," he said.

But Keller acknowledged that it can be difficult for him to choose a candidate based on social justice values.

"I ask a candidate a social justice question, I'll get an answer designed to win my vote," he said. If he asks any candidate about homelessness, Keller said, "Everyone will say, 'It's a scourge on the nation. When I'm president, I'll make a policy.' Is there any truth to that?"

Keller said his challenge is to look at what candidates have actually done on the issue.

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