When the first rumors stirred about Mitt Romney and the presidency, Ted Kennedy dismissed religion as a factor in the election. “That died with my brother,” he said.
Well, Ted Kennedy was wrong.
This morning, Mitt Romney is scheduled to give his big religion speech, in which he will address his Mormonism and how it would inform his presidency. JFK gave a similar speech in 1960 about his Catholic faith. In that speech, he said, “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.”
Kennedy’s speech removed the issue of religion from the 1960 election. Romney’s speech could do the same, and its impact will be furiously debated.
But we’ve been wondering why such an address is necessary.
In the 47 years between Kennedy’s and Romney’s speeches, the U.S. has passed laws prohibiting discrimination based on employment, age, gender and religion. It has protected the rights of disabled people, homosexuals and women. Public perceptions on all of these matters have transformed dramatically since 1960. And yet, a serious contender for the presidency still feels the need to explain his faith. Perhaps not as much has changed as we like to think.
Romney’s campaign has been dogged by religious bigotry. Misunderstandings about Mormonism abound, and polls reveal a surprising number of Americans (around 30 percent) are uncomfortable voting for a Mormon.
What does that say about us? What does it say about our belief in the freedom of religion on which this country was founded? What does it say about Article VI of the Constitution, which declares there is no religious test for political office in the United States? It says we don’t believe these things when it comes to certain religions, one being Mormonism.
Viewed with suspicion
People want to believe that Mormons are brainwashed cultists who live in Warren Jeffs-style communes. The reality is far more mundane. Mormons live in cities and towns across America. They attend PTA meetings, run businesses, sew baby blankets for disaster relief, and sing in church choirs. They strive to be wholesome but are not immune from the same social problems that plague everybody else.
Romney knows this. He’s said since the beginning of his campaign that when voters got to know him and his family, they’d like what they see. They’d learn that his values match theirs and that the daily lives of mainstream Christians aren’t so different from their Mormon neighbors.
The fact that Romney chose to give the religion speech shows his trust in the American people. Still, it is an enormous gamble. Analysts feel the speech could backfire and bring undue attention to an issue Romney has not wanted to focus on.
Kennedy said there were “far more critical issues to face in the 1960 election” than his religion. Some of those, he said, were the spread of Communism, hungry children in West Virginia, and elderly people who couldn’t pay their doctors’ bills. Romney faces some of those concerns, and others that Kennedy never dreamed about. He has repeatedly said he’d like to talk more about the issues, and less about religion. Maybe now he can do just that.
Lisa Ray Turner of Centennial and Kimberly Field of Littleton are the authors of “Mitt Romney: The Man, His Values, and His Vision” (Mapletree Publishing, 2007).
