A s we come ever closer to yet another election day, various issues compete for the attention of the media and  the voters. As usual, we need to ask ourselves, before God and in keeping with our faith, how are we to discern for whom or for what to vote? That question arises each time we go to cast our ballots.

The Catholic bishops have, for a number of years, put out a guide for reflection, to help us make our vote to be reflective of the values and demands of faith in a complex world. Titled “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” that document can be found, in English and Spanish, at the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (http://www.usccb.org).

It integrates for us the guidance of Pope Francis with the teachings of Pope Benedict and Pope St. John Paul II, as well as the established teaching of our faith.

More locally, the Catholic Bishops of Illinois have also drafted our own document to guide the reflection of Catholics in the electoral process. That can be found on the web at http://www.usccb.org.

One of the most important issues of our time is the role of religious liberty. As we know, the very first amendment to our Constitution, incorporated as part of the Bill of Rights in 1789 states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Our country was founded on the bedrock of rights of individuals, beginning with the freedom not just to believe, but also to put faith into practice.

Pope Francis has commented strongly and clearly on the right to freedom of religion for all people.

During a talk in 2014, he said, “Religious freedom is not only that of private thought or worship. It is the liberty to live, both privately and publicly, according to the ethical principles resulting from found truth.”

He went on to lament the modern examples of the persecution of those who defend truth and the human person, and do so by laws and practices restricting living and speaking the truth given us by God.

He raised that issue again during his visit last year to the United States. Speaking publicly to President Obama, Pope Francis said, “all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom (of religion) from everything that would threaten or compromise it.”

An example of this threat to religious liberty made the news this past week. Martin Castro, chairman of the U.S. Commission on Human Rights, made the astonishing assertion in an annual report that equated religious freedom and religious liberty with hypocrisy. He went on to suggest that religious liberty and religious freedom are code words for discrimination and intolerance.

In essence, a senior official in our own government has called for the restriction of the freedom to live the faith when it conflicts with the increasingly radical current agenda of government and our cultural elites.

We are constantly told that we live in a time and a society that prizes freedom and diversity. But once again, we see that there is a certain kind of diversity — that of religion and its moral vision — that is not tolerated, not welcome. Instead, religious believers increasingly encounter a form of bigotry that seeks to limit our faith-inspired contributions to family, to the service of the poor and the sick, and to education.

Our freedom of religion was recognized by the founders of our country to be a right from God, not a concession of our leaders. For more than two centuries, we as Catholics, along with other people of faith, have lived and thrived in our country. Even more, we have contributed beyond measure to our society.

We need only casually read the headlines to see the tragic results of religious intolerance and the lack of religious freedom throughout the world.

As Pope Francis also stated, “Persecution against Christians today is actually worse than in the first centuries of the Church, and there are more Christian martyrs today than in that era.”

As we ponder our vote this year, there are many questions that need to be asked of candidates. Their position regarding respect for conscience and religious freedom needs to be at the top of the list.