Joe Lieberman stepped up to the podium in front of about 150 curious blacks last week, and the first thing he did was quote Scripture:

“This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

The occasion was a Columbia breakfast meeting arranged by the Voter Education Project, a nonprofit civil rights organization specializing in voter registration, education and participation.

The Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. senator from Connecticut, an Orthodox Jew, is known for quoting the Bible on the campaign stump.

“My religious faith anchors my life,” he said.

He strictly observes the Jewish Sabbath by refusing to campaign from sundown Friday through sundown Saturday.

“It has always come above politics over the long term, and I obviously hope people will respect that,” he said in an interview.

Thus far, Lieberman said his faith has not been a hindrance. Nevertheless, it causes some angst among Democrats who fear the balancing act of pursuing an independent course on the Middle East could be a tougher challenge than his scheduling constraints.

Lieberman’s faith is unlikely to be an issue for most S.C. voters, who are overwhelmingly Christian, said Jim Guth, a Furman University political scientist who specializes in religion and politics.

Polls show they would not have a problem voting for a devout believer of another faith. Some of Lieberman’s strongest supporters are evangelical Christians who are pro-Israel, Guth said.

At the voter education breakfast, a questioner wondered how Lieberman, as president, would handle the high holy days, like Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, if Jewish law conflicted with his duties as the nation’s chief executive officer.

Lieberman, the first Jewish presidential candidate in a major-party primary race, doesn’t shy away from his Orthodox beliefs. Neither does he proselytize. His strict observance of the Sabbath and other Jewish traditions has been widely reported, and he has been outspoken on the importance of faith as a moral guide for American society.

The senator welcomed the opportunity at the breakfast to clarify his position on his faith on his campaign swing through South Carolina.

First of all, Lieberman said he observes the Sabbath because the Bible says he is to honor and keep it holy. He sees it as a day “to thank the Lord for all the blessings we receive and to recharge ourselves and try to get ready for the next week and, if I might put in a word for the Scriptures, ‘To serve the Lord with gladness.’

“As with most Americans, my faith is important to me. It helps to order my life. If somebody else wants to tell me where I came from, where I hope to be going and how I should behave in between, I say search the Scriptures.

“But let me say this in terms of observance of the holy days and the Sabbath. They exist to honor God and God’s creation. And I’ve always been taught, and I follow this practice, that if I’m in a position where I have a responsibility where the people are depending on me... then that supersedes any specific restrictions on the Sabbath.”

As Connecticut’s attorney general, Lieberman noted, he worked on holy days when there was a need for a decision that affected people’s lives. As a senator, he has voted on Friday nights and Saturdays, even gone to budget committee hearings, to make sure there would be enough money for Medicare and programs to provide for children.

“There was no contest. I knew where, as an expression of my faith, I had to be.”

But politics is a different matter.

“I don’t do politics on Friday night and Saturday,” Lieberman said. “That’s a rule I’ve made to try to preserve the Lord’s Day. But in anything related to governmental responsibility, I would never hesitate to do it on the Sabbath or holy day.

“As I like to put it, when it comes to politics, I will be working 24/6. When it comes to my public responsibility, 24/7.”

He got a standing ovation.