Conservative Wordsmith Susan Baldwin writes: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is scheduled to give his speech on religion this Thursday, December 6.* CBS’ Bob Schieffer interviewed Mitt Romney in October of 2007. "The most extensive remarks he's made recently on the subject was during a Face the Nation interview in late October, when CBS' Bob Schieffer pressed Romney for a good 10 minutes on the topic."

"Sources tell First Read to expect some of the language Romney used in this Q&A to show up in a speech -- a speech, by the way, which Romney is writing himself."

SCHIEFFER: "Well, will you ever make a speech like Jack Kennedy did back in 1960 when Catholicism was an issue for a lot of people? Would you ever make a speech outlining how you feel about your religion and the part it plays in your life?"

ROMNEY: "Well, I certainly get a chance almost every day to add one or two things to that speech. I probably could never do something that would compare to what John F. Kennedy did. His was a masterpiece in American political history."

"But maybe there`s a time when I talk mostly about religion, although I don`t know. At this stage I`m getting good support across the country. People want to know a bit about my faith. They learned a bit about it."

"And they say, OK, well, that`s fine. Now, what do you think about the jihad? What do you think about being competitive with China? How can you fix our schools? What are you going to do about health care? And those issues overtake any differences with regards to religion they might see."

"But maybe down the road there will be a speech. Just haven`t made a final decision on that."

SCHIEFFER: "Bob Jones, who heads Bob Jones University down in South Carolina recently endorsed you. And he said this week that he is completely opposed to the doctrines of Mormonism, but he said he preferred your erroneous faith to Hillary Rodham Clinton`s lack of religion."

ROMNEY: "Isn`t that a great line?"

SCHIEFFER: "Can you accept that endorsement?"

ROMNEY: "Oh, I`m happy to receive endorsements from individuals. And of course, we have different faiths. I`m not expecting him to endorse my faith. I`m not asking anyone to do that. I`m asking him to look at me as an American and judge my values, learn about me and my family, my character, and decide whether I could help America at a critical time. And I`m pleased that you have an evangelical Christian leader who says, look, Mitt Romney is a guy who is a social conservative, an economic conservative, a foreign policy conservative. Those three branches, if you will, of conservatism have to be united if we`re going to win the White House."

"And so, his endorsement is good news to me. But I don`t endorse -- or excuse me, I don`t expect him to endorse my religion."

SCHIEFFER: "Would you just -- I think back to the speech that Kennedy made. And people were worried about that somehow or another, he might take orders from the pope. How would you describe your relationship to the church and how you would see the responsibilities and duties of the president?"

ROMNEY: "Well, no president could possibly take orders or even input from a religious leader telling him what to do. I guess you could always listen to ideas, but you certainly wouldn`t be guided by someone outside the constitutional circle, if you will."

"I subscribe to something Abraham Lincoln spoke about when he was a young man. He said you take the oath of office, and you subscribe to America`s political religion. That is you take the oath of office and the rule of law as your primary promise to God. And that`s the way I feel."

"My church wouldn`t endeavor to tell me what to do on an issue, and I wouldn`t listen to them on an issue that related to our nation. If I`m president to the United States and put my hand on the Bible, I do what the Constitution tells me, what the rule of law tells me. I certainly don`t do what leader of my church or any other tells me to do."

Thanks to http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/03/493849.aspx for the above excerpts from "A preview of Romney's speech on faith?" Posted: Monday, December 03, 2007 12:47 PM by Mark Murray. You may read the entire article by clicking on this link.

I earnestly hope that this interview with Governor Mitt Romney will fully answer the comments that some of my evangelical Christian readers have posted on my Conservative Wordsmith Weblog. I believe that this interview will clarify many of your questions and concerns about various issues you are having with Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith. Please feel free to continue posting your comments, not only to me, but also to other readers, as you have been doing. I want my readers to look at my blog posts as though they were open forums.

Related Links

Address of Senator John F. Kennedy
to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association -
Click this link to read the text and/or listen to an audio clip of Kennedy's address on religion and religious intolerance.
Rice Hotel, Houston Texas
September 12, 1960

http://www.mittromney.com/

http://www.mittromney.com/
Ann-Romney/index 

http://www.evangelicalsformitt.org/ 

http://www.mittreport.com/ 

My Related Posts

*Romney, Kennedy, and "Faith in America"