Politics and religion: Romney's speech, like JFK's, must be carefully crafted

Additional information:  » Address of Sen. John F. Kennedy Rice Hotel Houston, Texas Sept. 12, 1960 (www.jfklibrary.org)

When then-candidate John F. Kennedy delivered his speech in 1960 on how being a Catholic would affect his presidency, he made it clear he would not be controlled by his church — but didn't talk about his religious beliefs.

That's what GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is expected to do when he takes the stage at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, Thursday morning to address concerns raised about his Mormon faith.

"Gov. Romney would be making a grave mistake if he either tried to describe or defend Mormonism," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "He needs to defend the right of a Mormon to run for president."

Like Kennedy did before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association 47 years ago, the former Massachusetts governor must avoid detailing his religious beliefs and instead ask voters to judge him based on his policy positions, Land said.

"He should say that if people want an interpretation of what Mormons believe, they should call Salt Lake City," Land told the Deseret Morning News in a telephone interview from Nashville, Tenn.

Kennedy told his 1960 audience that he was "not the Catholic candidate for president but the candidate who happens also to be a Catholic." Following Kennedy's lead could win over evangelical voters, Land said, including those who do not consider Mormons to be fellow Christians.

"I think there are millions and millions of evangelical Christians who would be willing to at least consider voting for a candidate who is a Mormon if he makes it very clear, as Kennedy did, that he is not running as a Mormon candidate," Land said.

But Richard Bushman, recently awarded the Howard W. Hunter visiting professorship of Mormon Studies at the Claremont Graduate University School of Religion in California, said Romney must talk about his faith.

As a Catholic, Kennedy had to answer the question of whether the pope, as head of the church, would control his presidency. Promising to follow his conscience "without regard to outside religious pressure or dictate," Kennedy did.

"With Mormons, that's also a question, but it's not the question," Bushman said. "It's our theology and our belief in a modern prophet and all those stories of Joseph Smith. All that makes us seem strange."