President Clinton gave a politically charged speech yesterday at Riverside Church in Morningside Heights in which he criticized right-wing Christians for claiming faith-based politics as exclusively their own and for attempting to paint Democrats as “two-dimensional cartoons.”

Religious faith is “not the exclusive province of the right wing,” Mr. Clinton said during his 30-minute speech, which drew applause and cries of “Amen” from the 2,500-person crowd that had gathered at the interracial, interdenominational church at 120th Street and Riverside Drive.

Referring to Republican Christians, he admonished the crowd not to “let people say you are not a good Christian because you don’t agree with the values crowd.”

“My values compel me to look at the evidence – that there were 50% more jobs and 100% more people moved out of poverty” after his eight years in office. Bemoaning the Bush administration’s environmental record, he attacked it for dirtying the water and for deforestation. As for the No Child Left Behind program, Mr. Clinton said he supported it but was disappointed that money that should have supported the program went to tax cuts instead.

“We couldn’t fund the school programs, but I got my tax cuts,” he said. “This offends my values that I learned in my church.”

The Bush tax cuts were mentioned more than once during the speech.

“I don’t know why the Republicans hate me so much,” he said. “It is because I’m a white Southern Baptist, and they wonder why I’m not Republican, especially since I’m getting all these tax cuts.”

As for this week’s Republican National Convention, he said, “Once every four years the Republican Party puts on its compassionate face,” but when they return to Washington, the party “goes right back to its powerful private lobbying groups and private interests.”

Speaking of President Bush’s religious beliefs, he said, “I believe President Bush is a good Christian. I believe that his faith in Jesus saved him. I believe it gave him new purpose and direction to his life.

“But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t see through a glass darkly,” Mr. Clinton said, quoting a biblical phrase for not seeing clearly. “It doesn’t mean that you can have a bunch of people acting on your behalf and pre tending like you don’t know them, to say that the seven people who were on John Kerry’s Swift boat don’t know what they’re talking about when they say he deserves the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts.”

The Bush campaign has said it had nothing to do with TV ads questioning Senator Kerry’s war record. “It’s astonishing that anyone would use a church pulpit to launch a baseless attack containing nothing but false accusations,” a Bush-Cheney spokesman, Kevin Madden, told the Associated Press.

Mr. Clinton also said he was “sick and tired of being told the Democrats are weak” on defense. He repeatedly mentioned that his wife, Senator Clinton, who accompanied her husband to the service, is on the Armed Services Committee. “We need defense but not defense alone,” he said. “A world with more partners and fewer enemies.”

Toward the end of his speech, Mr. Clinton voiced his support for Mr. Kerry.

“I like John Kerry,” he said, citing the senator’s support for the welfare-to-work program, his vote to put 100,000 more police on the street, and his effort to help young people who are in prison.

“Next time a politician… is a half step off, you remember that in the end, especially in election time, free people have the reins in their own hands,” he concluded.