By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor

How key is Jon Huntsman's Mormonism to understanding him and his rise as a politician?

His grandfather was an apostle in the Mormon church, his father is a lay leader in the church, and Huntsman himself was a Mormon missionary to Taiwan, which gave him the language skills that helped land his last job, as President Barack Obama's ambassador to China.

On the other hand, Huntsman - who officially launched his presidential campaign Tuesday - has publicly distanced himself from his Mormon faith.

"I can't say I'm overly religious,"� he told Fortune magazine last year, when he was still ambassador. "I get satisfaction from many different types of religions and philosophies."�

It's not...