Romney on Religion

I watched a bit of Mitt Romney's speech in the midst of work. In some ways I was impressed and other ways not at all. He has looks and all the vacuity of a television anchorman. He delivered the speech looking and sounding quite well but he left me wondering if he really understood the substance of what he said. Yes, the secularism comment created a major disconnect for me.

Others zoomed in on that comment. MSNBC's Countdown and Hardball made much of a speech about religious tolerance showing no tolerance for non-believers. The Washington Post editorialized on the subject today: No Freedom Without Religion?:

"Where Mr. Romney most fell short, though, was in his failure to recognize that America is composed of citizens not only of different faiths but of no faith at all and that the genius of America is to treat them all with equal dignity. 'Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom,' Mr. Romney said. But societies can be both secular and free. The magnificent cathedrals of Europe may be empty, as Mr. Romney said, but the democracies of Europe are thriving."

Boldness, Watered Down commented on secularism as well the sheer political opportunism of the speech.

For what I read as Republican spin, see Answering Critics -- and Kennedy from the Washington Post's Michael Gerson.

A long, long time ago in what seems a different universe, a government was set up that answered all the ayatollahs, Protectors of the Faith, Popes and neighborhood bigots by requiring no religious tests for government service. Governor Romney needs a bit of a reminder about that government, but then I think the Republican Party has no idea of what the United States Constitution says but only what they want it to say.