The media’s religious treatment disparity makes perfect sense once you consider a few things: 1) rather than just reporting the news, the real goal of many so-called reporters is to protect Democrats while attacking Republicans, and 2) many of these reporters themselves actually doubt the religious authenticity of the Democratic politicians they so admire (that dynamic alone explains why Obama received little pushback during the 2008 campaign when he claimed that his faith required him to oppose same-sex marriage; when non-Democrats do they exact same thing, they’re attacked as hopeless theocratic bigots who hate civil rights).

Why do they ask probing theological questions of Republicans, but not Democrats? Because they they think Republicans will defend core theological principles if they’re attacked, and because the reporters believe those defenses will alienate the Republicans from the electorate. It’s why Hillary will never, ever, ever be asked if she believes Christ was literally born of a virgin and literally rose from the dead after three days and then literally ascended into heaven, where he literally decides whether you will go to hell or not. It’s why Barack Obama will never be asked how his Christian faith informs his belief that there’s nothing wrong with butchering a perfectly healthy and viable 38-week old baby in utero.

Many professional political reporters simply don’t want to embarrass Democrats by putting them in a position to affirm sticky issues of faith. They know that voters to some extent expect their politicians to believe in a higher power who guides them, so they’ll let vanilla affirmations of faith slide as long as they come from the right politicians.