December 06, 2007
Romney Stands Firm On Mormon Faith, Stresses 'Tolerance'
UPDATED.
In a speech meant to mark a turning point in his bid for support among evangelicals, Mitt Romney declared that as president he would serve the U.S. Constitution, not the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but that religious faith ought to be a permanent fixture in the public square.
"I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law," Romney said, speaking at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. Adding that some voters might want him to sever Romney the politician from Romney the Mormon, he said, "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."
Romney's address veered deeper into the topic of his faith, and its contrast to other faiths, than was previously indicated by his campaign. He was addressing the topic in more detail than he has since announcing his bid for the presidency because of a threat to his standing among Republican primary voters by Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and a Baptist minister. Huckabee has raised a meager fraction of what Romney has so far this cycle, and his sudden rise in the polls is attributed to support from evangelical voters who distrust Romney because of his faith.
Romney was speaking before a preselected audience of supporters, but the tenor and content of his speech was quite obviously directed at skeptics. "Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it," Romney said. "But I think they underestimate the American people. Americans do not respect believers of convenience."
Some evangelicals have been reluctant to cast their lot with Romney because, even though he shares their views on social issues like abortion and gay marriage, they are uncomfortable with the claim that Mormons are also Christians. A CNN/ORC poll conducted in October and re-released today shows that while more Americans are coming around to the belief that Mormons are also Christians, 41 percent say they are not while 10 percent are unsure.
The entrée of theology into the presidential election was not unexpected, as Romney stands to be the nation's first Mormon president. But his campaign as well as certain conservatives have been uncomfortable with it. Rival candidate Ron Paul, for instance, criticized the demand for Romney's address, saying, "The recent attacks and insinuations, both direct and subtle, that Gov. Romney may be less fit to serve as president of our United States because of his faith fly in the face of everything America stands for. Gov. Romney should be judged fairly, on his record and his character, not on the church he attends."
Romney declared his belief that "Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind," but did not go further. "There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church's distinctive doctrines. To do so would enable the very religious test the Founders prohibited in the Constitution," Romney said. "No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith."
The former Massachusetts governor emphasized that the endgame for him and other Americans of faith was more similar than not. "Where the affairs of our nation are concerned, it's usually a sound rule to focus on the latter -- on the great moral principles that urge us all on a common course. Whether it was the cause of abolition, or civil rights, or the right to life itself, no movement of conscience can succeed in America that cannot speak to the convictions of religious people," he said.
While warning of the dangers of "the religion of secularism" taking hold in much of America, Romney also sought to paint Americans as a people of shared moral values and faiths against a backdrop of violent religious intolerance and European secularism.
"I have visited many of the magnificent cathedrals in Europe. They are so inspired, so grand, so empty," he said. "The establishment of state religions in Europe did no favor to Europe's churches. And though you will find many people of strong faith there, the churches themselves seem to be withering away.
"Infinitely worse is the other extreme, the creed of conversion by conquest: violent jihad, murder as martyrdom killing Christians, Jews and Muslims with equal indifference," Romney continued. "We face no greater danger today than theocratic tyranny, and the boundless suffering these states and groups could inflict if given the chance."
Though there is much in this speech to alienate Americans who want a clean separation of church and state in the White House, this speech was not directed at them. Romney had been betting heavily on early wins in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where he has spent far more on TV and radio ads than anyone else in either party. New polls showing Huckabee gaining or even leading while spending almost nothing forced Romney's reluctant campaign to recalculate the pros and cons of delivering this speech.
Some evangelicals consider Mormonism, the only major American-born religion and among the world's fastest-growing, to be a cult in part because it is derived from a text outside the Holy Bible (the Book of Mormon) that contains starkly different accounts of the Original Sin and of the afterlife. Evangelicals have felt moorless this campaign season. President Bush appeared to legitimize them as a permanent voting bloc in the Republican Party, but they have found fault in all the big-name GOP candidates, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain in particular.
"Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree," Romney said. He later continued, "You 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." Romney said the word "Mormon" aloud once, and the word "tolerance" three times.
Up until a couple of months ago, Romney appeared to be closing the deal with religious Republicans, which he planned to leverage into a win in Iowa and then slingshot victories elsewhere. Huckabee was able to seize momentum following an enthusiastically lauded performance at the Values Voters Summit toward the end of October. More recently, Huckabee has been emphasizing that he is a Christian in a TV ad running in Iowa, and an apparently pro-Huckabee group has been making anti-Romney phone calls to voters in Iowa.
Before delivering his address, Romney was introduced by President George H.W. Bush, who is hosting speeches for both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates at his library this season. After welcoming Romney's wife, sons and in-laws, Bush recalled Romney's father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, who ran a failed bid for the presidency in 1968, as "the father of volunteerism in this country" and an example of "what it means to be a point of light."
The former president added that he was not going to endorse any of the Republican primary candidates.
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Some early reaction to the speech:
"His goal was to fit his faith into the mainstream of American religion and diminish it as a lightning rod for the opposition. On that, he did quite well." -- Fred Barnes, Weekly Standard
"Um, saying that explaining his church's doctrine enables this religious test is a stretch at best, and makes me wonder, at least, what he's trying to hide. He voluntarily offered his answer to the test on Jesus, after all, suggesting that those who don't believe in Jesus would not qualify in this regard." -- Bruce Feiler, BeliefNet
"Personally, I think Romney over-emphasized the place of religion in American political life. It's not a matter of excluding atheists -- that's not a big deal, although Romney could have easily included people of no faith in his discussion. Rather, the more important point is that one can be religious, can attend church regularly, and still believe Romney attached too much importance to religion in American politics." -- Byron York, National Review
"Simply magnificent, and anyone who denies it is not to be trusted as an analyst. On every level it was a masterpiece.... a brilliant explication of the American political theory of faith and freedom." -- Hugh Hewitt, Townhall
"Yes, he said Jesus is 'Savior of the world,' and he called Jesus 'the Lord,' but how is salvation gained?" -- Oran Smith, president of South Carolina's Family Research Council affiliate (per NBC/NJ's Erin McPike)
"The speech didn't address the concerns of the actual voters he's trying to win over. That might be because they cannot be satisfactorily addressed. In short it would have been a great speech had he already won the nomination. But there wasn't a whole lot in there about why he should get the nomination in the first place." -- Jonah Goldberg, National Review
"The Republican Party has a proud tradition of being inclusive, and our candidates have never shied away from talking about their faith. Each Republican candidate for president, including Governor Romney, has candidly and passionately discussed the role faith plays in their lives, and it is critically important they continue to keep faith as an important part of the public discourse during this election." -- Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party
And video of the address:
Posted at 12:42 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani, WH 2008
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