Romney makes his case to conservative voters
January 07, 2008
By Michael Foust
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney sought to ease concerns
among some conservatives about his Mormon beliefs Dec. 6, saying he
shares the same values they do and that all Americans should embrace
what he called the "nation's symphony of faith."
"Almost 50 years ago another candidate from Massachusetts explained
that he was an American running for president, not a Catholic running
for president," Romney said, referring to John F. Kennedy's famous
speech. "Like him, I am an American running for 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.
"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 prov-ince of church
affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin."
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious
Liberty Commission, said he believes Mormonism falls outside the
boundaries of orthodox Christianity but that Romney addressed
evangelicals' main concerns.
"... The fact that a person is a Mormon should not disqualify them
from running for public office," Land said on CNN. "We have a
constitutional prohibition against a religious test for office and,
after all, we are voting for a commander-in-chief, not a pastor-in-
chief."
During his speech Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts,
referenced the nation's founders and argued that if elected president
he would serve "no one religion, no one group, no one cause and no one
interest" but only serve "the common cause of the people of the United
States."
"There are some for whom these commitments are not enough," he said.
"They would prefer it if I would simply distance myself from my
religion, say that it is more a tradition than my personal conviction,
or disavow one or another of its precepts. That I will not do. I
believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is
the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs."
Some people, Romney said, believe that his ties to his religion "will
sink my candidacy."
"If they are right, so be it," he said. "But I think they
underestimate the American people. Americans do not respect believers
of convenience. Americans tire of those who would jettison their
beliefs, even to gain the world."
Religion, he added, must not be stripped from the public square. The
separation of church and state, he said, has been redefined "well
beyond its original meaning" -- so far, in fact, that it is as if some
are wanting to establish "the religion of secularism."
It has been the "diversity" of America's "cultural expressions" and
the "vibrancy" of its "religious dialogue" that has kept the nation at
the forefront of civilized nations even as "others regard freedom as
something to be destroyed," Romney said.
"[Y]ou can be certain of this: Any believer in religious freedom, any
person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally
in me," he said. "And so it is for hundreds of millions of our
countrymen: We do not insist on a single strain of religion. Rather,
we welcome our nation's symphony of faith." (BP)
http://www.truthandgrace.com/mormonhistory.htm
http://www.truthandgrace.com/rigdon3.htm
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