Romney Says There Is No Religious Test for Presidency
By Hans Nichols
Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Republican candidate Mitt Romney told an audience in Texas today that there should be no religious test for the presidency and those who question his beliefs violate the spirit of the country's founding.
Romney, in a speech at the George Bush Presidential Library, is seeking to confront skeptics among some evangelical Christian groups about his Mormon faith. His lead in polls of Republicans in Iowa, where the first nomination contest will be held Jan. 3, has slipped with the rise of Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and ex-governor of Arkansas.
``If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest,'' Romney said. ``A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States.''
The former Massachusetts governor, 60, also said that religion must not be totally removed from public life and that the founding fathers' concept of separation of church and state ``has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning'' in recent years.
``Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom,'' he said.
While some state polls and anecdotal evidence suggest his Mormon faith is a stumbling block, particularly with religious voters, 73 percent of those surveyed in a Bloomberg News/Los Angeles Time poll say it makes no difference in deciding their vote.
Earlier Comparison
Romney compared his situation with that of John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic elected president in the U.S. who addressed a Baptist group to explain ``that he was an American running for president, not a Catholic running for president.''
Romney said he won't address or justify the doctrines of the Mormon faith.
``To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the constitution,'' he said. ``No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith.''
Romney said he would ``take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from `the God who gave us liberty.'''
Romney was introduced for the speech by former President George H.W. Bush, whose library is located near the Texas A&M campus in College Station, Texas.
He also spoke about the challenges facing the country, including the threat of radical Islam and the rise of China as an economic power and rival. |
