Romney Speech Is Readied To Explain His Faith to Public

A Republican presidential candidate and former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, has prepared a speech to explain his Mormonism in the event that his religion becomes an electoral liability.

A former bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — as the Mormon Church is officially called — Mr. Romney is the great-grandson of polygamist Mormons who emigrated to Mexico to escape arrest.

The candidate's faith has yet to become an issue in the Republican primary campaign, though it was raised by the 95-year-old mother of one of his rivals, Senator McCain of Arizona. In an outburst on Friday, Ms. McCain blamed Mormons for the bribery scandal surrounding the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Mr. Romney launched his national political career on stepping in to restore the integrity of the Salt Lake Olympics.

"As far as the Salt Lake City thing, he's a Mormon, and the Mormons of Salt Lake City had caused that scandal. And to clean that up — it's not even — it's not a subject," Roberta McCain told Chris Matthews on MSNBC.

Mr. McCain, who was sitting next to her in the television studio, was quick not to join in impugning Mr. Romney's faith. "The views of my mother are not necessarily the views of mine," he said.

He added that he thought Mormons were "great people," saying, "I think that it should never be a consideration."

Mr. Romney's spokesman, Kevin Madden, was quick to try to defuse controversy over his candidate's beliefs. "I would disagree with any candidate or any campaign surrogate that chooses to disparage someone based on the faith that they hold," he said.

The Romney campaign is so conscious that Mr. Romney's religion suddenly may become a hot issue that it has taken the precaution of drafting a speech for him to deliver, aiming to confront those who believe it is not appropriate for a Mormon to become president.

Their model is a speech given in West Virginia in May 1959 by Senator John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, when he was a presidential candidate. Kennedy pledged to an audience of largely Protestant coal miners that if elected he would fiercely maintain the separation of church and state.

The address confounded those who had suggested that Kennedy's Catholicism, with its presumption of obeisance to the pope in Rome, would compromise his actions as president.

Mr. Romney's Mormonism is undoubtedly a possible stumbling block to his success. A poll by the Pew Research Center in September found that a quarter of Republicans, and as many as 36% of white evangelical Protestants, would be less likely to vote for a Mormon. While not acknowledging that he already has prepared a speech, Mr. Romney on Saturday alluded to a debate between his campaign advisers about how best to deal with attacks upon his Mormon faith.

"Is there going to be a special speech? Perhaps, at some point. I sort of like the idea myself," he told supporters in Holderness, N.H. "The political advisers tell me, 'No, no, no. It's not a good idea. It draws too much attention to that issue alone.' But I sort of like the idea anyway and will probably do it at some point, but who knows? That's not a final decision."

He hinted that, if he gave a speech on Mormonism, it would make clear that he would never take instructions from the church.

"I think … what people want to know is, 'Are you going to be taking your directions from somebody else?' The answer is: of course not," he said.

"I'm going to the follow the Constitution and the rule of law, just like John Kennedy said he's not going to do what the pope told him to do. That wouldn't make sense. And it wouldn't make sense for me to turn to my church and ask them, 'Well, what do you think we ought to do on stem-cell research or the war in Iraq or anything else?'

"The values of my faith flow from the Judeo-Christian heritage that we probably all share in this room, which are values of believing in God, in the case of those who follow the Christian line of that philosophy, I believe that Jesus Christ is my savior.

"I believe in the Bible. I believe that liberty is a gift of God, and not of government. I believe in serving other people. … I think these values and also the sense of that we're one family of humankind around the world. I think these values should inform a leader of our nation, and those values are shared. So maybe I'll give a speech like that someday, but until that time, you'll have to rely on what you just heard."

Mr. Romney said his Mormonism is often raised by concerned voters. "I'm happy to answer any questions people have about my faith and do so pretty regularly," he said. "I'm not going to back away an inch or a quarter-inch from my own faith."

Mr. Romney has tended to laugh off those who try to make an issue of his religion. At a meeting in Laconia, N.H., on Saturday he joked about Mormonism and polygamy, a practice that was outlawed by the church in 1890 but that continues to be contentious.

"I love my wife and my five sons and their five wives. Wait. No. I said that wrong," he said amid laughter.

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Correction: Roberta McCain is the name of Senator McCain's mother. Her name was misstated in an earlier version of this story.

Correction from December 3, 2007: Roberta McCain is the name of Senator McCain's mother. Her name was misstated in an article on page 5 of the November 12 Sun.