Romney tries to allay worries over his faith

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Mitt Romney used the word "Mormon" only once in his speech, yet his message and intent were clear.

He needed to reassure voters he wouldn't be taking orders from church elders if he should be elected president. And, with his lead gone in polls for the Iowa Republican caucuses, he needed to do it now.

In the most-highly anticipated speech of his presidential campaign, Romney said Thursday he and other Mormons are like Baptists or Roman Catholics or other Christians -- faithful to their religion but committed to serving the nation if elected.

Romney delivered the speech on politics and religion at the Texas library of the first President Bush, who introduced him in friendly fashion but made clear it was no endorsement. Romney's address echoed John F. Kennedy's in 1960 as Kennedy sought to reassure the nation the pope wouldn't call the shots for the country's first Catholic 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," Romney declared. "A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States."

Still, in his address just 90 miles from Kennedy's speech site in Houston, Romney also called for a deepening link between faith and political life.

He criticized what he called "the religion of secularism" he said was creeping into American life and drew chuckles from his invited audience as he complained Europe's picturesque cathedrals are largely empty amid societies "too busy or just too 'enlightened' to venture inside and kneel in prayer."

After declining for months to address the issue of his Mormonism directly, Romney switched course as polls showed widespread unease about his religion -- and showed him losing his once-sizable lead in the opening Iowa caucuses to Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas.

Romney said some believe a forthright embrace of his religion will "sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it. But I think they underestimate the American people."

Though he spoke for 20 minutes, he mentioned the word "Mormon" a single time, referring at other times to his faith or his church.

The Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses provide the first test of the race for the White House, followed closely by the Jan. 8 primary in New Hampshire. Romney has campaigned and spent energetically in both states in hopes of gaining unstoppable momentum for the rush of elections that will soon follow.

A defeat in Iowa would be particularly difficult to absorb, given Huckabee's shoestring operation. Polls show Romney's religion is a political drag on his campaign, and Huckabee has risen in surveys by gaining the support of evangelical Christians, who comprise an estimated 40 percent of likely caucus goers in Iowa.

"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," he pledged. "Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin."

Mormons believe that authentic Christianity vanished a century after Jesus and was restored only through Joseph Smith, who founded the religion and is viewed as a prophet by its adherents. Smith revised -- and in his view corrected -- large sections of the Bible in the 19th century, an act of heresy in the eyes of Protestant and Roman Catholic leaders. The Mormon scriptures include the Old and New Testaments, as well as books containing Smith's revelations.

In speaking frankly about his beliefs, Romney hoped to reassure other Christians about his intent.

"I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior of mankind. My church's beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths," he said, adding that these differences are "not bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance."

Romney said: "We should acknowledge the Creator as did the founders, in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history and, during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places."

Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance, said, "I think he did what he thought he needed to do to address concerns about whether he might use his particular faith as the basis for his decisions as president."

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, called Romney's speech "a magnificent reminder of the role religious faith must play in government and public policy." He added, "Whether it will answer all the questions and concerns of evangelical Christian voters is yet to be determined, but the governor is to be commended for articulating the importance of our religious heritage as it relates to today."

The Rev. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, said, "While I may disagree with some of the points made in the speech, including his lack of acknowledgment of the values and contributions of the nonreligious among us, I appreciate the overall tone."

Among the critics was Costas Panagopoulos, a political science professor at Fordham University.

"Make no mistake about it, this was a political speech," Panagopoulos said. "Romney sounded like he is running for pastor-in-chief rather than commander in chief."

Romney's rivals generally steered clear of commenting on the speech, but agreed 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 on NBC's "Today" show.

Rudy Giuliani, a Catholic, said there should be no religious test for office.

"We're a country that is based on religious freedom, and we're a country in which we respect each other's right to have different views about religion, about God, about our belief in God," Giuliani said during an appearance in Sarasota, Fla. "I think the governor made that point very clearly today. I can't imagine anybody disagreeing with that."

While Romney has been subject to some leafletting and phone calling pointing to religious differences between his faith and others, he has faced little outright religious bigotry or questions on the campaign trail.

Yet, in an AP-Yahoo poll last month, half said they had some problems supporting a Mormon presidential candidate, including one-fifth who said that 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.

Romney chose a presidential library, with a backdrop of 10 flags and the presidential seal, for his speech.

Former President Bush introduced him, noting his own connection to Romney's late father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney.

"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."

That said, Bush said he had no intention of endorsing anyone. "I simply have too much respect for all of the candidates," he said.

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Associated Press Writer Alan Fram in Washington contributed to this report.