Romney reassures U.S. over Mormonism

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney vowed on Thursday the Mormon church would not run the White House if he is elected, as he sought to reassure Americans wary of his religion.

Attempting to halt a slide in the polls in Iowa, where former Arkansas Gov. and Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee has surged into the lead is many polls, Romney made an impassioned appeal to Americans to look beyond his religion and honour the U.S. tradition of religious tolerance.

"Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin," Romney said.

He spoke at the presidential library of former President George H.W. Bush in College Station, a setting chosen in part because it is not far from Houston, where Democratic candidate John Kennedy addressed Americans about his Catholic religion in 1960 and went on to win the presidency that year.

Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts who would be the first Mormon president of the United States as Kennedy was the first Catholic president, cast himself in Kennedy's mold.

"Like him, I am an American running for president. I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith," Romney said.

Some Americans view Mormons with scepticism and the church has spent decades trying to counter criticism that it is a cult and a threat to Christianity.

The church maintains that God speaks through living apostles and prophets such as the church's current president, Gordon Hinckley. Mormons reject the unified Trinity and teach that God has a body of flesh.

Romney, who had been pressed by Southern Baptist leaders to make the speech, sought to reassure Christian evangelicals about his faith, saying he believes Jesus Christ is the son of God and saviour of mankind.

He acknowledged that some differences exist.

"My church's beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths," Romney said. "Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history."

Some evangelical leaders came away from the speech impressed.

The Rev. Rob Schenk, president of the National Ministry Center in Washington D.C., who is neutral in the presidential race, called it "one of the best political speeches on this subject that will likely ever be made."

"As an evangelical, I think he went a long way toward relieving some of the anxieties that evangelicals have experienced about a Mormon president, and I think that's a good thing," said Schenk, who attended the speech along with a number of other religious leaders.

Romney avoided specifics about Mormonism, saying to do so would amount to a "religious test" not in keeping with the strictures of the U.S. Constitution.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an estimated 6 million members in the United States and is based on the belief that the religion's founder, Joseph Smith, found golden tablets in 1827 in upstate New York left behind by ancient Israelites.

Matthew Wilson, political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, called it a "very powerful speech." But he doubted it "will change anyone's theological scepticism about the Mormon church."

"I certainly didn't hear anything that he said that should disturb evangelicals," said Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance. He said Romney should also have stressed he would protect the rights of those who do not have a religion or who oppose a religion.

Romney said he would not turn his back on his faith, as he said some would prefer.

"I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavour to live by it," he said. "Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it."

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found a majority of Americans view the Mormon faith as a Christian religion, but one in four respondents said they would be less likely to vote for a Mormon president.

Romney's campaign is heavily dependent on a victory in Iowa, which on January 3 holds the first of the state-by-state contests to determine which Republican and Democrat will face off in the November 2008 election.

Romney spent millions to build a big lead in Iowa, but the advantage has evaporated in recent weeks, with Huckabee winning support from Christian evangelicals to catch him in the polls.