Associated Press
College Station, Texas – Republican Mitt Romney, confronting voters’ skepticism about his Mormon faith, declared Thursday that as president he would “serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause,” and said calls for him to explain and justify his religious beliefs go against the profound wishes of the nation’s founders.
At the same time, he decried those who would remove from public life “any acknowledgment of God,” and he said that “during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places.”
In a speech less than a month before the first nomination contests, Romney said he shares “moral convictions” with Americans of all faiths, though surveys suggest up to half of likely voters have qualms about electing the first Mormon president.
“I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it,” Romney said. “My faith is the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs.” Nonetheless, he strove to clarify his personal line between church and state, recalling a similar speech delivered by John F. Kennedy in 1960 as Kennedy sought to become the first Catholic elected president.
“I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith, nor should he be rejected because of his faith,” Romney said at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, 90 miles from Kennedy’s speaking site in Houston.
“Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin,” Romney said.
He added: “If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause and no one interest. A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States.”
Romney hoped the speech would allay concerns of Christian conservatives, some of whom have propelled former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to join him atop the polls in Iowa. Its caucuses kick off presidential voting next month.
Romney said he is often asked whether he believes in Jesus Christ.
“I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind,” he said. While conceding Mormons have different beliefs about the earthly presence of Jesus Christ, “each religion has its own unique doctrines and history. … Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree.”
Illustrating Romney’s challenge, one of his own invited guests said he believes Mormons are not Christians.
“I don’t think his Mormonism is a deal breaker for most Americans, but only Mitt Romney can close the deal,” Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Asked directly if he thought Mormons were Christians, Land said, “No, I do not.”
Huckabee, who was a Southern Baptist preacher before entering politics, said that Romney’s religion has no bearing on whether he would make a good president.
“It has nothing to do with what faith a person has – it’s whether or not that person’s life is consistent with how he lives it,” Huckabee said Thursday on NBC’s “Today.” “If I had actions that were completely opposite of my Christian faith, then I would think people would have reason to doubt if this part of my life, which is supposed to be so important, doesn’t influence me.”
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, also used the occasion to sound a call for greater religious thought in daily civic life, providing a near-history lesson as he recalled religion in American political life since the country’s founding.
“The founders proscribed the establishment of a state religion, but they did not countenance the elimination of religion from the public square,” he said.
In an appeal to social conservatives, he also invited James Bopp Jr., an anti-abortion activist who is Romney’s special adviser on life issues.
Political foes have accused Romney of switching his positions on some social issues, like abortion, when it became expedient.
Former President Bush introduced Romney, heightening public attention to the speech. Romney’s backdrop on stage was 10 American flags and a replica of the presidential seal.
Serving as host at his presidential library, the elder Bush introduced Romney, pointed out members of the candidate’s family in the audience and described Romney’s father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, as the father of volunteerism.
“He’s certainly one of my mentors when it comes to points of light,” said Bush, who enacted a volunteer initiative while president, called “Thousand Points of Light.” Bush said he had no intention of endorsing a candidate. “I simply have too much respect for all of the candidates,” he said. He called Romney a “good man” and said he considered him and his wife “good friends.”
Beyond speaking about faith, Romney sought to use the publicity his speech generated to relaunch his campaign as the broader electorate begins to tune into his nomination fight against a field that includes former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain.
Striking a family chord, Romney’s wife of 38 years, Ann, and four of the couple’s five sons joined him for the speech.
“We are a long way from perfect and we have surely stumbled along the way, but our aspirations, our values, are the self-same as those from the other faiths that stand upon this common foundation,” Romney said. “And these convictions will indeed inform my presidency.”
While Romney has been subject to some leafletting and phone calling pointing to religious differences between his faith and others, he has faced little religious bigotry or questions on the campaign trail. Instead, political realities played a role in his decision to make the speech.
In an AP-Yahoo poll last month, half said they had some problems supporting a Mormon presidential candidate, including one-fifth who said it would make them very uncomfortable.
Fifty-six percent of white evangelical Christians – a major portion of likely participants in the early GOP presidential contests in Iowa and South Carolina – expressed reservations about a Mormon candidate. Among non-evangelicals, 48 percent said it troubled them. Almost a quarter – 23 percent – of evangelicals said they were very uncomfortable with the idea.
Associated Press Writer Alan Fram contributed to this report from Washington.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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posted December 6, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Quote: “Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin.” Romney said.
If that were only so. Every one of the Republicans running for office of President are against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. They are against abortion, except for Guiallini. They don’t seem to respect our nations glbt, or they would see they had the same priviledges that heterosexual people enjoy. We are supposed to be equal, they can’t see this because of their Religions. The Democrats running can see it, so why would you vote for any of the Republicans when their morals are so scrambled, unless yours was equally scrambled.
posted December 6, 2007 at 10:39 pm
“Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin,”
That’s a very important point. How many people will realize it’s pointed directly at Catholic candidates.
“It has nothing to do with what faith a person has – it’s whether or not that person’s life is consistent with how he lives it,”
I’m curious how many people Huckabee knows whose lives are inconsistent with how they live them.
“I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith, nor should he be rejected because of his faith,”
I hope a reporter asks him if he includes those with no “faith” in that statement. He picked on non-believers pretty hard, saying “Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom.” I think the Europeans, famous for their secularism and their freedom would laugh at that (no doubt many are right now).
Here’s the text.
From the speech:
“Any believer in religious freedom, any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally in me.”
I’ve never knelt in prayer to anything. I wonder if I have a friend in Mitt. Romney was effusive in complementing all the faiths but he did not utter a word about we atheists. I’d like him to clarify whether he includes us in his complements and promises of protection.
From the speech:
“Americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world.”
Strange words coming from one who’s flip-flopped on, e.g. abortion and rights of homosexuals.
posted December 6, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Don’t like him even more, now. ‘Nuff said
Now, about this “religious test for candidates”. Let’s start working on this. Is it simply some set of magical secret phrases people want – an American Shibboleth?
Or should we really give them a Religious SAT – they have to show they know something about all the faiths. Maybe 100 questions. Start with a “softball” question – what are the Abrahamic faiths? Maybe nclude some Native American questions like, For whom is the White Buffalo sacred?
OK gang, let’s start dealing some queries for these wan’na be royalty. Let’s try to keep it in the ballpark of American religious concerns. If they really want to govern based on what pople believe, they need to have some basic knowledge of what that is. So what would you ask. No trick questions, no essay, no multiple guess – simple, straight forward, short answer types of questions.
posted December 7, 2007 at 8:11 am
I knew when Mitt Romney gave his “religion” speech that it would set loose a lot of whining and complaining here on this site. “He’s against abortion,” “he doesn’t like glbt’s,” “He didn’t mention we atheists.” In the immortal words of Charlie Brown, “Good Grief!”
No President does or should “govern based on what people believe.” That is preposterous. A president is not sworn to lead according to what people believe, i.e., according to what is popular. He is sworn to uphold the law and protect the country. A president by himself, (or herself should Hilary win), cannot do very much. Congress is where the real power is, and it is Congress that more truly represents the mix of the country than could one person as president.
Congress is made up of people from different religions, including the religion of atheism. Congress is made up of people with differing lifestyles. Congress is made up of people with differing viewpoints on a variety of social issues. Some are conservative. Some are liberal. But each one represents a segment of the American population, both ideologically and geographically.
I believe Romney is correct. A person’s faith should not be a test for the presidency. If in November the contest is between the liberal Hilary vs. the conservative Mitt, his Mormonism will not prevent me from voting for him.
There is another immortal cartoon character I would like to quote, but I can’t remember who it was. But whoever he was, he said, “Kwitcherbellyakin!”
posted December 7, 2007 at 12:08 pm
I certainly hope a liberal candidate wins and leftist values sweep the nation so WindsorsChild can show us all how to not whine.
posted December 7, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I promise. If that happens, I won’t whine. Not one bit. A president is a president. None of the people who have been president during my 56 years as an American have changed my life much one way or the other. Now, Congress? That might be a different story!
posted December 7, 2007 at 2:48 pm
“None of the people who have been president during my 56 years as an American have changed my life much one way or the other.”
How about one getting us into a needless invasion that’s cost us $475 billion dollars in just direct costs and counting*. That’s money that will come out of our hide one way or another. If you think that stupid invasion hasn’t and won’t affect us very badly you aren’t paying attention.
Now about “whining”. I understand complaining about things that really affect them or people they care about. Romney’s speech was all about “We’re like you, we believe in God and pray and that makes us all good.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the implication a lot of people will take from that: “Those people who don’t believe in God and pray are not good.” Read some of the posts around here these days about atheists being next to Satan and you should realize it can get uncomfortable being in the out group with some of these religious right crazies. A responsible candidate won’t encourage them.
posted December 7, 2007 at 2:53 pm
While I do agree with WindsorsChild that the president is more of a figurehead than anything, I would still like my political posterboy to to at least put on a good show. What we have at the moment is like having Paris Hilton as the spokesperson for MENSA, and I’d care not to repeat that mistake…again.
Frankly, I don’t care if a snake-handler is in office as long as my rights are preserved and they put up a good front to the rest of the world. I won’t be voting for Romney because of his political views, not his chosen religion.
posted December 7, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Now let’s talk a bit about Mike Huckabee, the reason Romney made the speech. He’s reported to have made the following comment about his rise in the polls:
“There’s only one explanation for it, and it’s not a human one. It’s the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loaves feed a crowd of five thousand people.”
Does his comparing himself with Jesus like that bother any Christians here?
posted December 7, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Mike Huckabee did not compare himself to Jesus with his comment, and, as a Christian, I am not bothered by his comment. He said what I have said of myself on occasion: it is Christ who helped the little boy feed five thousand, it is Christ who has helped me accomplish things I never would accomplish on my own, and it is Christ who has helped Mike Huckabee get where he is today. Huckabee was saying that God is in his life; he was not saying he is like Christ.
I’ll give you something to chew on. If Mike Huckabee is elected president next November, I and many others will say it is by the same power that helped a little boy feed five thousand people with some bread and fishes! And if he doesn’t get elected, I and many others will say that God has something else in mind for America.
No matter who wins the election, God will still be in control. He always has been and He always will be.
Chew away!
posted December 7, 2007 at 5:28 pm
And, by the way, I do not believe atheists are next to Satan! Satan believes in God and trembles.
posted December 7, 2007 at 5:35 pm
wc, then why doesn’t Satan find a different line of work? He’d be a natural, for instance, as a Republican media strategist.
posted December 7, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Romney won’t be getting my vote anyhow and it has nothing to do with his being a Mormon. I just don’t trust the man. My brother-in-law is a Mormon as is one of his daughters. His wife,my sister, and the other child, are Methodists. Since I have them as examples of what a Mormon is, I certainly would not use that as a consideration if I was inclined to vote for him. I feel the only reason he felt compelled to “explain” his religion is due to Huckabee’s rise in the polls.
I don’t care for Huckabee either.
If this country votes another Republican into office…any of them, I think Ireland is calling! BTW, if that happens, I don’t think a god will have had anything to do with it. It would be the same folks who voted “W” in twice!!
posted December 8, 2007 at 10:32 am
windsorschild-
Well, it does not happen often….however, I do agree with you, Huckabee was not comparing himself to Christ.
nnmns-
In his statement Huckabee was comparing himself to the boy….saying that he was recieving guidance/assistance from God. I am in no way bothered by that statement. I believe that I recieve guidance from God throughout my day.
pagansister-
I am with you: “Romney won’t be getting my vote anyhow and it has nothing to do with his being a Mormon. I just don’t trust the man.”
Nor, do I agree with his stance on most (if any) of the topics that are important to me.
Peace!
posted December 9, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Religion requires freedom, but how the hell does freedom require religion? The most repressive regimes known to humanity have been based on religion: ie Iran!
Romney was so careful to address those with religion. He must have been aware he was leaving everyone out who does not believe in the supernatural. Therefore I can only assume he does not want my vote, he does not want to represent me and does not intend to represent anyone who does not believe in gods.
Therefore he will not get my vote. He is no different than any of those who value religion above all else — like the 9/11 homicide designers.
Who am I? Just another godless atheist who values peace, compassion, choice and freedom.