[Mormon] Faith in America

Mitt Romney gave an excellent speech this past week as contemporary America's presidential fabric faces the possibility of being stretched to include a Mormon.

I believe Pat Buchanan noted well that you can vote against Romney solely because of his religion, but that just may say more about you than it does him.

It is a sad state of affairs when only the candidate who is an ordained Baptist minister is seen to be the harbinger of conservative Christian voters in Iowa.

Below I've included some of my favorite lines from this refreshing address.

"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."

"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."

"As a young man, Lincoln described what he called America's 'political religion' – the commitment to defend the rule of law and the Constitution. When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God."

"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 believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it. 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."

"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.

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. 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.

I believe that every faith I have encountered draws its adherents closer to God. And in every faith I have come to know, there are features I wish were in my own: I love the profound ceremony of the Catholic Mass, the approachability of God in the prayers of the Evangelicals, the tenderness of spirit among the Pentecostals, the confident independence of the Lutherans, the ancient traditions of the Jews, unchanged through the ages, and the commitment to frequent prayer of the Muslims. As I travel across the country and see our towns and cities, I am always moved by the many houses of worship with their steeples, all pointing to heaven, reminding us of the source of life's blessings."

"I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.'"

"Recall the early days of the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, during the fall of 1774. With Boston occupied by British troops, there were rumors of imminent hostilities and fears of an impending war. In this time of peril, someone suggested that they pray. But there were objections. 'They were too divided in religious sentiments', what with Episcopalians and Quakers, Anabaptists and Congregationalists, Presbyterians and Catholics.

Then Sam Adams rose, and said he would hear a prayer from anyone of piety and good character, as long as they were a patriot.

And so together they prayed, and together they fought, and together, by the grace of God ... they founded this great nation."

America, your precedence of faith and politics is on the line. Now is too vital a time in our nation's history to get bogged down in the semantics of sects and doctrines. The failure of religious inclusion in this presidential election might show that, as Romney also says, "Americans [are] unable to accommodate their commitment to their own faith with an appreciation for the convictions of others to different faiths."

As a kid who grew up as a Mormon with political aspirations, I thought that the American experiment would always hold true for me.

I want to know that this childhood ideal is real.