White House hopeful Mitt Romney said religious liberty "is fundamental to America's greatness," in his Thursday address on faith in America. Romney, seeking to become the first Mormon president, explained how his faith would affect his presidency in his speech at former President George H. W. Bush's presidential library at Texas A&M University.
"There are some who may feel that religion is not a matter to be seriously considered in the context of the weighty threats that face us. If so, they are at odds with the nation's founders," Romney said.
"Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone," he said.
The former Massachusetts governor delivered the speech to address religion's role in government as well as concerns voters might have about the Mormon religion.
CNN contributor Bill Bennett said he wasn't sure that Romney addressed those concerns, "but I don't think he had to."
Bennett said the speech was one that any of the Republicans and most of the Democratic candidates could have given.
Another CNN contributor, Roland Martin, said the setting for the speech was a good one -- "in the heart of the Bible Belt."
Romney spoke before a crowd of about 300 people: a combination of friends, family and religious and conservative leaders.
"I think he was saying, 'I am a person of faith, forget which faith it is,' " Martin said.
The GOP contender, who had brushed off comparisons to John F. Kennedy's famous address, didn't hesitate to mention the 1960 speech.
"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.
"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."
Kennedy took the stage in Houston, Texas, and addressed concerns that the Vatican would influence his policies.
Like Kennedy, Romney told the audience that his church would not influence his presidential decisions. Romney said he did not "confuse" religion and politics as governor and he would not do it as president.
"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," he said.
Romney, however, said he would not distance himself from his religion.
"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," he said, adding that if his faith hurts his candidacy, "so be it."
Romney avoided explaining differences in his church's beliefs and other faiths.
"Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history. These are not bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance. Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree," he said.
"No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes president he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths," he said.
Romney instead pointed to similarities between churches in America, saying they share a "common creed of moral convictions."
Romney said he thought some have taken the idea of separation of church and state beyond its original meaning by trying to remove any acknowledgment of God from the public arena.
"It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America -- the religion of secularism. They are wrong," he said.
Nearly 77 percent of those questioned in an October CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll said the fact that a candidate is a Mormon would not be a factor in the way they vote for president. But a significant portion -- 19 percent -- said they are less likely to vote for a Mormon.
"Those who have the biggest problem supporting a Mormon are churchgoing and evangelical Christians -- particularly those who believe that Mormonism is not a Christian religion," Schneider said, citing the October poll.
And that also represents a large portion of the Republican base.
Romney faces a different religious climate than Kennedy, who wasn't viewed as a prominent player in Catholic circles. Kennedy told the Texas crowd, "I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president who happens also to be a Catholic."
"Non-Catholics expected Kennedy to say his faith would make no difference, which is hardly what today's Republican Christian conservatives want to hear," religion reporter Dick Ostling said in an interview with ReligionWriter.
Romney, however, is active in his church. At age 19, he became a full-time missionary of the Mormon church, temporarily leaving college to fulfill a Mormon calling and eventually becoming the equivalent of a bishop.
Romney later made a fortune in the business world, and played a big role in the financial success of the 2002 Olympic winter games. In 2002, he defeated the Democrats and became governor of traditionally liberal Massachusetts.
In 1960, Kennedy was already the Democratic Party nominee when he made his famous speech. Romney, on the other hand, has yet to seal his party's nomination. He is still vying for his party's vote, and the evangelical Christian vote in particular, which some say puts him in a more difficult position than Kennedy.
"Romney will address deeply committed religious Republicans and tell them, 'My values are the same as yours, even if we belong to different churches,' '' Schneider said. advertisement
Brushing off differences between Mormons and other Christians is not the best campaign strategy, according to Ostling in RW.
"Better to candidly admit there are differences but these should not affect voting decisions," Ostling told RW. "The more effective plea is tolerance, asking voters to follow the spirit of the Constitution's ban on any 'religious test' to hold public office."