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After Rick Santorum ignited controversy over the weekend by saying President Barack Obama has a "phony" and "different theology" that's not "based on the Bible," and amid ongoing discomfort among some politicians and religious figures over Mitt Romney's Mormon faith, a coalition of major religious organizations is calling on presidential candidates to keep religion out of politics.

On Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the Interfaith Alliance released a "statement of principles" on religion in political campaigns that calls on candidates vying for office to feel comfortable explaining their religious conviction to voters but also warn that "there is a point when an emphasis on religion becomes inappropriate and even unsettling in a religiously diverse society such as ours."

The call has been endorsed by 14 major Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Sikh organizations, and asks candidates to:

• Attempt to fulfill the promise of America by seeking to serve and be responsive to the full range of constituents, irrespective of their religion.
• Conduct their campaigns without appeals, overt or implicit, for support based upon religion.
• Reject appeals or messages to voters that reflect religious prejudice, bias, or stereotyping.
• Engage in vigorous debate on important and disputed issues, without deliberately encouraging division in the electorate along religious lines, or between voters who characterize themselves as religious and voters who do not.

"Candidates do not have to check their religion at the door of the offices they seek. But they need to understand that they serve people of other faiths and of no faith. Resorting to religious language that sets people of faith against each other harms political discourse and sows religious discord," said J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, in a statement.

Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham Foxman encouraged candidates to "avoid overt appeals for support on the basis of religion" and set a "proper tone" when it comes to discussing their beliefs and those of others.

The Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of Interfaith Alliance, said he has been "deeply disturbed by the disproportionate role religion has played during recent election cycles with some candidates seeming to be running for 'pastor-in-chief'" and that "a line is crossed when a candidate implies that they should receive your vote because of their faith."