Editorials

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks today in College Station, Texas. The topic is his Mormon faith. Said more plainly, the Massachusetts Republican will address conservative Christians in his party who whisper that his choice of denomination disqualifies him from seeking the presidency.

The speech, titled "Faith in America," is expected to be in the same vein as a 1960 speech delivered by John F. Kennedy to a group of Texas ministers. In his remarks, Kennedy set out to dispel concerns about his Roman Catholicism.

What follows is a suggestion for what Romney should say:

My purpose today is to address lingering concerns about my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In spite of the Constitution's ban on religious tests for public office, some in the Republican Party have done just that, requiring that candidates dance to their particular hymn.

A set of narrow and intolerant fundamentalist religious leaders are acting every bit the part of old-style precinct chiefs who wielded undue influence in big-city political machines. Unlike the naked parti-sans of a political spoils system, however, these modern, self-appointed kingmakers practice their campaigning under the cloak of piety.

With their constituents they often deal in a cruel form of bait-and-switch, luring in the faithful with Christianity and, in turn, using their membership rolls for less than Christ-like activities, such as smacking down their political enemies.

The fault doesn't belong solely with the Christian fundamentalists. Republican Party bosses found a winning strategy in manipulating the Religious Right. GOP leaders often played on the sincere belief of the faithful to drum up votes. An example is gay marriage in the 2004 presidential election, a subject ballyhooed during politicking time and dropped like a hot potato when it was governing time.

As the candidate whose religious faith is coming into question by many of these leaders, I'm here to issue a call.

This cynical course we're traveling down is heading to a dead end. Some pundits have said that for me to stress separation of church and state would be an act of political suicide. That's because so many in the Religious Right have created for themselves and their followers an alternate reality, one that claims the Founding Fathers' rejection of state-sponsored religion and religious tests were given with a wink and a nod. Christianity, particularly their brand, is first among so-called equals, according to the reasoning of the Religious Right's charlatans. We are, they shout, a Christian Nation.

What to do?

If we continue down this path we can require that all of the major candidates, both Republican and Democratic, be examined by a board of inquisitors.

That, however, is as distasteful as the suggestion that we bar Religious Right leaders and their faithful from the political process.

Instead, let us all commit to moving forward in our grand experiment called democracy. And by "all" I mean people of all faiths or no faith at all.

Our Founders rejected the state-sponsored churches of Europe. Instead they leaned on the Enlightenment concept that government cannot and ought not have authority of the internal thoughts and beliefs of citizens.

These concepts have served us well for centuries, making the United States a beacon for the world. Working together, we can only make the light of that beacon of free expression and tolerance brighter.