Romney's gain is everyone's loss

Mitt Romney probably did himself good with a speech last week that was meant to quell the concerns of evangelical Christians when it comes to voting for a Mormon. Romney tried to place his church squarely among the nation's dominant religion and said, as John F. Kennedy did in 1960, that leaders of his faith would not have undue influence over his decisions as president.

So the speech was probably good for Romney. However, it was bad for America.

Kennedy spoke to Protestant ministers who were leery of putting a Catholic in the White House. They openly speculated that JFK would be taking orders from the pope. The Democratic nominee said that this would not happen. "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute," Kennedy said to a room full of preachers. Though Romney attempted to style himself as one walking in the shoes of the eventual 35th president, in truth he believes in a very different America. Romney said that, "in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning," and that, "Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom."

The Christian right in America, while probably not as powerful at the polls as many assume, has exerted its influence over our elected officials in recent years. Karl Rove's strategy of pandering to that sector has tainted the government for years to come, and the current occupant of the Oval Office calls himself "The Believer-in-Chief." Romney wants to convince Christians that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a mainstream Christian denomination, like other Protestant branches that he mentioned in his speech: Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Lutherans and Presbyterians.

Many, however, point out the lurid history of the Mormon church. Commentator Lawrence O'Donnell, on the PBS political analysis show The McLaughlin Group, was rather passionate in his condemnation of the LDS church, saying that Romney needed to fess up on whether he held certain Mormon beliefs, such as the Garden of Eden being in Missouri, Jesus Christ living on another planet and, until the late 1970s, that black people had darker skin as a punishment from god.

Other critiques of Romney's remarks have been made by some newspaper columnists, for example at the Hartford Courant and the Salt Lake Tribune. As one of them points out, Romney used the word "Mormon" once in his remarks and "god" 15 times. Contrast that with the fact that Kennedy used the word "Catholic" 20 times in his remarks. Romney, it's clear, is trying to evade a tougher scrutiny of the church that has been called a cult by some.

In the end, I think, the hardcore evangelicals are not going to vote for a Mormon, but I think that some mainstream Christians who were on the fence were reassured to hear Romney say, "Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind." That is probably the litmus test that they have.

Of course, there shouldn't be any litmus test with regard to religious beliefs. Romney dismissed "secularists" and nonbelievers, but there are increasing numbers of such people in the United States, and their rights and beliefs should be respected as well. The separation of church and state was intended to be absolute and it should remain so. Any attempt to intertwine religion with government should be frowned upon and avoided. That is what Kennedy said, but the opposite of what Romney said. Just as George W. Bush's contention that god is telling him what to do and one of the things he was told was to invade Iraq, Romney is a believer who is dangerous. We should all be vigilant against putting anyone with apocalyptic beliefs and demented religious fervor in control of levers of power and buttons that launch nuclear missiles.