Excerpts

From Mitt Romney's address: "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."

" ... No authorities of my church, or any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions."

"Freedom and religion endure together or perish alone."

"Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree."

"Any believer in religious freedom, any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally in me. And so it is for hundreds of millions of our countrymen: We do not insist on a single strain of religion — rather, we welcome our nation's symphony of faith."

"I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs. Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they're right; so be it.