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'I serve no one religion'
06/12/2007 21:18 - (SA)
College Station - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney seeks to ease concerns of Americans sceptical of his Mormon religion on Thursday by planning to say if elected, "I will serve no one religion."
"We separate church and state affairs in this country, and for good reason. No religion should dictate to the state nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion,"
he will say, according to excerpts of a speech he is to deliver at the presidential library of former President George H.W. Bush in College Station.
College Station is not far from Houston, where Democratic candidate John Kennedy in 1960 used a speech to ease concerns about his Catholic faith and went on to win the presidency.
"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 will say.
Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, would be the United States' first Mormon president, although a number of followers of the religion hold elected US positions, several of them in the Senate, such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, a Democrat.
Some Americans view the Mormon faith with scepticism and the church has spent decades trying to counter criticism that it is a cult and a threat to Christianity.
Romney faces a big challenge in Iowa, where the wide lead he once held has now faded, with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee winning support from Christian evangelicals to catch Romney in the polls.
Iowa on January 3 holds the first of the state-by-state contests to determine which Republican and Democrat will face off in the November 2008 election. A win there can generate momentum, while a loss can deflate presidential hopes.
Voters' reluctance
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an estimated 6 million members in the US and is based on the belief that the religion's founder, Joseph Smith, found golden tablets in upstate New York in 1827 left behind by ancient Israelites.
A recent survey by the Pew Research Centre found that a majority of Americans view the Mormon faith as a Christian religion, but one in four respondents said they would be less likely to vote for a Mormon president.
In his speech, Romney planned to say no candidate should face a religious test in order to become president.
"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," he will say.
"No candidate should become the spokesperson for his faith. For if he becomes president he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths."
While backing the separation between church and state, Romney said in recent years some advocates have taken this creed "well beyond its original meaning."
"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," Romney will say.
- Reuters
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