AUGUSTA – Who speaks for God when lawmakers meet?

That may well be an impertinent question, but to think that religious groups in Maine have no voice at all in the State House would be wrong.

Still, the three groups with a regular presence at the State House don’t speak with one voice.

In fact, the voice of Maine’s religious denominations can sound a bit like a mini Tower of Babel.

“I think the media and through them the public believe there is some sort of unity among the churches and religious groups that lobby the Legislature, that they are all unified,” said Tom Ewell, executive director of the Maine Council of Churches.

“That just is not true,” he said. “There are wide differences between groups and even differences within groups.”

Eight denominations are members of the council Ewell heads, although each denomination can go its own way on any issue.

The eight involve units of the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Religious Society of Friends, the Roman Catholic Church, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which comprises all Roman Catholic parishes in the state, lobbies the Legislature apart from the council.

And a third, highly vocal voice comes from the Christian Civic League of Maine.

Ewell said there could be disagreement even within the Maine Council of Churches over an issue or whether the group should become involved in supporting or opposing a particular piece of legislation. While there is broad agreement over fundamental issues of justice and morality, how to apply those principles to the political process often leads to disagreement, he said.

“We do lobby on legislation that we hope will help improve economic justice and social justice,” he said. “We very much try to advocate for those in need.”

Ewell said the council’s board of directors, which has representatives of many denominations, sets priorities. He said the council has hired a part-time lobbyist to assist in its efforts, and this session economic justice for poor Mainers is a priority.

One of every six Mainers is Catholic, and there is a long tradition of Catholic political involvement at the State House. Next week, Bishop Joseph Gerry will host his annual legislative luncheon at the St. Paul’s Center, a few blocks from the State House in Augusta.

“We strongly believe it is a duty of every Catholic to be involved in the political process,” said Marc Mutty, director of public affairs and principal lobbyist for the diocese. “We believe we should be lobbying on legislation to help provide a spiritual and moral context to the debate.”

Mutty said the Catholic Church has a “rich body” of literature outlining the moral imperative of the church. He said in the practical world of politics that translates into a responsibility of the church to lobby to help the poor and downtrodden.

“In the past we have been very involved in welfare reform,” he said. “In this session, we continue to be very concerned with supporting health care access for all Mainers.”

For example, Mutty plans to urge lawmakers to oppose some of Gov. Angus King’s proposed budget cuts in social welfare programs that he believes unfairly will fall on the poor. Mutty said his years of lobbying have taught him that the state budget is the key state policy document.

But sometimes he has trouble convincing his advisory board – and even the bishop.

Just a short walk from the State House is the headquarters of the Maine Christian Civic League, perhaps the best-known of the religious groups that lobby lawmakers regularly. The league is composed of about 200 churches across the state, as well as individual members.

“We believe the Bible teaches that civil government is an institution ordained by God and that the Christian is to honor and respect government,” the league says on its Web site. “We affirm the primacy of the spiritual. Therefore, we believe that no political or economic program or ideology must ever be permitted to take the place of personal evangelism and individual salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.”

Michael Heath, the league’s executive director, is responsible for translating the goals of the league into political action, principally by lobbying. He said his board of directors set the policy for the current two-year session of the Legislature a year ago, and his top priority was to oppose legislation that supports what he calls “the gay agenda,” which includes gay rights and domestic partner benefits.

“We prayed first, and then they discussed a whole range of issues. But gay rights was the top out of some 25 areas,” Heath said. “It was because of that mandate that I jumped on the domestic partners issue so quickly last year.”

The issue arose when state government extended health insurance benefits to unmarried domestic partners of state workers. Most of those affected are unmarried heterosexual couples, but some are gay. Heath denounced the policy as immoral.

“The government has undermined biblical marriage and endorsed cohabitation and homosexual relationships, and that is a violation of the deeply held moral convictions of a lot of Mainers,” he said.

In the rough and tumble of politics, the bottom line for many politicians is votes. When lobbied, lawmakers weigh a number of factors, including whether a group, religious or not, can deliver votes or resources in the form of contributions or volunteer workers. Labor unions, for example, have a long track record of being able to back up their promises with support at campaign time.

Churches and religious groups have a mixed record, said Chris Potholm, a government professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. He has been observing Maine politics for 30 years.

“The Catholic Church has been successful on a few issues, and not successful on others,” Potholm said. “I think they provided the decisive margin of defeat in the physician-assisted suicide referendum, but they could not deliver in the ‘partial-birth’ abortion referendum.”

Potholm said politicians know which groups are able to mobilize resources and votes, and which ones are paper tigers. He said the Christian Civic League has not delivered votes or resources, despite the group’s high profile.

“While people may be of the same religion, they may see issues differently,” he said. “On the abortion issue, the [Roman Catholic] Church can pretty much count on Franco-Americans. But they can’t count on Irish Catholics.”

And on many issues before the Legislature, the religious community speaks with many voices and often on opposing sides of an issue.

Ewell, of the council, said he is concerned when groups are so sure they are right on a matter that they invoke the claim that God is on their side on a particular issue. “That upsets me greatly,” he said. “To me, that raises ethical concerns.”

Indeed, the word of God is subject to a host of interpretations, said Marvin Ellison, who teaches Christian ethics at Bangor Theological Seminary. He doubts any lawmaker would listen to a claim of divine support, because the lawmakers themselves have religious backgrounds as diverse as the people they represent.

“There is as much difference among Methodists on an issue or among Baptists as there are differences between Christians and Muslims on issues,” Ellison said.

“Religion covers all of life, not just the personal relationship between a person and God,” Ellison said. “So for me an activist faith is the norm. I think what would be odd would be to have any kind of faith without politics.”