WASHINGTON -- President Bush yesterday said it was appropriate for the White House to invoke Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' religion in making the case for her to skeptical conservatives, triggering a debate over what role, if any, her evangelical faith should play in the confirmation battle.

Harriet Miers

The president said religion was part of Ms. Miers' overall background, much like her work as a corporate lawyer in Texas, and that "our outreach program has been just to explain the facts to people." At the same time, his attorney general went on television and described Ms. Miers as "pro-life." But the White House said her religious and personal views would not affect her ability to serve as a neutral justice.

"People ask me why I picked Harriet Miers," Mr. Bush said at an Oval Office appearance with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski. "They want to know Harriet Miers' background. They want to know as much as they possibly can before they form opinions. And part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion."

The issue was stoked by the comments of James Dobson, head of the evangelical group Focus on the Family, who recounted on a radio show taped Tuesday and aired yesterday that deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove had raised the issue of religion in a private conversation to assure him of Ms. Miers' conservative bona fides. According to Mr. Dobson, Mr. Rove told him two days before the president announced his nomination "that Harriet Miers is an evangelical Christian [and] that she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life."

Citing Mr. Rove as his source, Mr. Dobson also revealed that the president chose Ms. Miers after other candidates withdrew from contention. White House press secretary Scott McClellan yesterday confirmed that "a couple" of potential nominees asked not to be considered because of "the ordeal of going through the confirmation process."

Liberals jumped on the remarks of Mr. Dobson to accuse the White House of imposing a religious litmus test, or of invoking faith as a way of signaling to conservatives that Ms. Miers would rule as they wish on such questions as restricting abortion rights. Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way, noted that conservatives complained when anyone questioned the influence of faith during the recent confirmation of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

The administration again dispatched top officials to defend the Miers nomination. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said yesterday on MSNBC that he believed Ms. Miers personally opposes abortion, although a Justice Department official later said Gonzales never spoke with her about the subject. "I believe that she is pro-life," Mr. Gonzales said. "But the question as to whether or not she's pro-life or not has no bearing and should have no bearing as to ... how she would rule on a particular case interpreting the right to an abortion."