Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is backpedaling from his statement that the "Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation."

In an interview with Beliefnet.com , McCain said the most important issue to consider when selecting a president is "Will this person carry on in the Judeo-Christian principled tradition that has made this nation the greatest experiment in the history of mankind?"

(See also: Whose Presidential Campaign Is Worst for Diversity? and Who Cares About Tavis Smiley? Top GOP Prez Candidates Diss 'Customers' of Color)

McCain added that he agrees with a poll that found that 55 percent of Americans believe the U.S. Constitution establishes a Christian nation. "I would probably have to say yes, that the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation," he said. "But I say that in the broadest sense. The lady that holds her lamp beside the golden door doesn't say, 'I only welcome Christians.'"

In response, Muslim and Jewish organizations are saying McCain's comments are divisive and ignore the nation's traditions of religious pluralism and inclusion born from the Constitution. They add that McCain's comments are heaped on top of a number of gaffs from Republican leaders who suggest the party is one that excludes people who are different from the mainstream.

"If the GOP wants to reach out to minority communities, they're not doing a good job," says Ibrahim Hooper, spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "We have a string of these Republican gaffes: Virgil Goode said 'No Muslim should take an oath on the Koran.' Peter King said there are too many mosques in the U.S. Daniel Pipes said Palestinian villages should be razed—and he's an adviser to [GOP presidential candidate Rudy] Giuliani. These are troubling remarks and there's absolute silence from the Republican Party."

DiversityInc contacted the Republican National Committee for comment but did not receive a response.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), in a statement, described McCain's comments as "disappointing and disturbing" and said it had sent the Arizona senator a letter asking that he withdraw his statements.

"We would have thought that a senator as experienced and respected as John McCain would place himself above such divisive appeals to religious intolerance," said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the ADL, in a statement. "His remarks were inaccurate and ill-advised for any candidate seeking to lead a nation as religiously diverse as ours ... Absolutely nothing in the Constitution establishes that the U.S. is a Christian nation, nor is it accurate to say that this nation was founded on Christian principles."

McCain's comments are being taken out of conext, says Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's communications director.

"Read in context, his interview with Beliefnet makes clear that people of all faiths are entitled to all the rights protected by the Constitution, including the right to practice their religion freely," says Hazelbaker in a statement printed on CNN. "In the interview he also observed that the values protected by the Constitution, by which he meant values such as respect for human life and dignity, are rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition. That is all he intended to say to the question, America is a Christian nation, and it is hardly a controversial claim."

However, that explanation did little to squelch the controversy. Both the ADL and Hooper suggest McCain's comments were the senator's attempt to appeal to a base of the Republican Party that includes Christian conservatives who do not recognize the United States' diversity as a strength. In appealing to that base, McCain and other Republicans are wallowing in divisive politics rather than politics that will unite the nation's different people.

Hooper is asking that McCain meet with Muslim leaders as "a concrete gesture and indication that he does not believe what he initially stated."

"These kinds of statements are of concern to members of any minority-faith group," adds Hooper. "Obviously the vast majority of the founding fathers were Christian, but they never intended ... on making it a Christian nation. They based [the U.S. Constitution's principles] on the same universal, moral and ethical principals that extend from Islam and other faiths."

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