Mormon US presidential hopeful addresses religion concerns
HOUSTON, Texas (AFP) — Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney Thursday asked Americans not to reject him because he is a Mormon, trying to win over skeptical Christian voters at a key moment in his campaign.
"I am an American running for president," Romney said in a landmark speech directed at his party's powerful evangelical bloc, after he was introduced by ex-president George Bush at his presidential library in Texas.
"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," Romney said, against a presidential-style backdrop of 10 American flags.
A Pew Research Center poll in August found 36 percent of white Republican evangelical Christians were less likely to vote for a believer in Mormonism, which many view as heretical.
In a speech recalling John F. Kennedy's address on his Roman Catholicism in 1960 during his successful presidential run, Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, vowed that his Mormonism would not shape his presidency.
"I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest," he said.
"When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God."
Romney pledged the Mormon Church's secretive leadership would not enjoy any power over the US government, should he win the presidency.
"No authorities of my church, or of any church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions."
Romney's address, just 28 days before the Iowa caucuses, the first nominating clash of the 2008 campaign, came with him under siege in the state from surging ex-Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee -- an ordained Baptist minister.
Huckabee again Thursday refused to define Romney as a Christian.
"This is only for Mitt Romney to decide," Huckabee said on MSNBC, but added his rival "shouldn't be judged for his fitness of the presidency based on his religion."
Romney's speech threw the spotlight on the significant role of religion in US politics, which despite the separation of church and state, plays a larger role here than in many other Western democracies.
He refused to go into doctrinal details of his Mormon church, saying to do so would validate a "religious test" for office prohibited under the constitution.
Instead, Romney tried to downplay differences between Mormonism and other doctrines, in America's "symphony of faith" in which all religions shared "a common creed of moral convictions."
He also borrowed the argument of evangelicals that secularists are trying to drive faith out of public life.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the official name for the Mormon church, was founded in 1830 by American pioneer Joseph Smith.
The Mormon Church considers itself a Christian denomination, but bases its doctrine on the Book of Mormon, a text purporting to contain a fuller version of the words of Jesus.
Smith said he received the content of the book on gold tablets in 1827.
Romney, a multi-millionaire venture capitalist and management consultant, has poured millions of his own dollars into the campaign, especially in Iowa.
The state, which holds its caucuses on January 3, forms part of a two-pronged strategy, also involving New Hampshire, where he leads polls, to challenge nationally for the Republican nomination.
One conservative religious leader, Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, on Thursday said religious bigotry should have no place in American life.
"It is a sad commentary on the state of American politics when Governor Romney has to make a speech on religious freedom just because he happens to be a Mormon," he said.
