Romney's speech served him and his faith well

As this column is written, presidential candidate Mitt Romney has just given his "Faith in America" speech.

It was a moving speech, well delivered.

And Romney said what most people figured: That if elected president he won't govern by his religion, won't be told what to do by his LDS leaders any more than he did as governor of Massachusetts during his four-year term starting in 2003.

Romney then went on to outline how important religion has been to him personally and his family, and to America, both in the founding of the country and since.

He repeated, as he's said before, that he won't be a spokesman for the LDS faith.

And he said that he won't be an apologist for it, either.

All well and good.

What Romney did not dwell on or address, however, was some of the basic questions non-Mormons have about members of the LDS Church.

He did say that he believes, as does his religion, that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the redeemer of all mankind. He certainly didn't want to get into explaining or defending baptism for the dead, wearing garments or black men not getting the priesthood until the late 1970s.

And he said he would place his hand on the Bible to take the presidential oath of office. He didn't say the Book of Mormon.

While Romney pled for religious tolerance, it's not at all clear he will get that from born-again Christians or evangelicals.

According to sociologists and political scientists, American voting is often a personal experience — alone in a booth, assured of anonymity, you can cast a ballot that could outrage your spouse, children, neighbors, even your pastor or bishop.

You are free to follow your best inner self and rational thinking or fall to bigotry and emotionalism. And no one will know unless you choose to tell them.

While one may say that the Republicans' religious right could have a problem believing that the LDS faith is a "cult," as some evangelicals define it, what may really harm Romney more among them is his switching stands from the early 1990s on their core issues, like abortion and same-sex marriage.

Romney's LDS faith has taken strong stands against abortion. And LDS leaders continue to fight same-sex marriage not only in Utah, the church's historical and actual home, but across the nation.