Romney: No religious test for president

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AP	Video: In his own words Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., touches upon the primary themes of his campaign.
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Former President George H.W. Bush introduced Romney and provided the venue for the speech. The Bush library, located on the edge of the Texas A&M campus, is 90 miles from Houston, where Kennedy delivered his speech about faith and politics just two months before winning the 1960 election.

Romney's backdrop on stage was 10 American flags and a replica of the presidential seal.

Beyond speaking about faith, he sought to use the occasion to relaunch his campaign as the broader electorate begins to tune into his nomination fight against a field that includes former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

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Striking a family chord, Romney's wife of 38 years, Ann, and four of the couple's five sons were joining him for the speech.

"We are a long way from perfect and we have surely stumbled along the way, but our aspirations, our values, are the self-same as those from the other faiths that stand upon this common foundation," Romney said. "And these convictions will indeed inform my presidency."

Political foes have accused Romney of switching his positions on some social issues, like abortion, when it became expedient.

"Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our Constitution rests," said Romney, who favors overturning the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

In an appeal to social and Christian conservatives, he also invited James Bopp Jr., an anti-abortion activist who is Romney's "special adviser on life issues," and Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, to be his guests at the speech.

"I don't think his Mormonism is a deal breaker for most Americans, but only Mitt Romney can close the deal," Land told ABC's "Good Morning America." Asked directly if he thought Mormons were Christians, Land said, "No, I do not."

While Romney has been subject to some leafletting and phone calling pointing to religious differences between his faith and others, he has faced little religious bigotry or questions on the campaign trail. Instead, political realities played a role in his decision to make the speech.

In an AP-Yahoo poll last month, half said they had some problems supporting a Mormon presidential candidate, including one-fifth who said it would make them very uncomfortable.

Fifty-six percent of white evangelical Christians - a major portion of likely participants in the early GOP presidential contests in Iowa and South Carolina - expressed reservations about a Mormon candidate. Among non-evangelicals, 48 percent said it troubled them. Almost a quarter - 23 percent - of evangelicals said they were very uncomfortable with the idea.

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