Under Pressure Romney Calls for Greater Role for Religion

Mitt Romney, facing the evaporation of his presidential ambitions, today tried to win over evangelical Christians suspicious about his Mormon beliefs, by calling for a greater role for religion in public life.

In a speech from the presidential library in Texas of the first president George Bush, Romney made a direct promise that his Mormon beliefs would not influence his decisions in the White House.

But far more important for the evangelical Christians who were the target audience of his speech, and who are a powerful voting bloc in the primary season now less than a month away, was the prospect that a Romney administration would grant them the greater influence in public life they crave.

Opinion polls this week showed Romney falling into second place in Iowa, the first state on the primary calendar, behind Mike Huckabee, a former second tier candidate now rising in popularity in the state. Romney has maintained his lead in New Hampshire, the second state to vote.

But Huckabee's strong showing is beginning to threaten his chances of breaking out in the national polls, which remain dominated by Rudy Giuliani and John McCain.

Today's speech had been built up by the Romney campaign as a second coming of John F Kennedy's now legendary 1960 speech about his Catholicism.

Though he directly addressed suspicions among evangelical voters that Mormonism is a cult, Romney in effect repudiated Kennedy's message on the importance of the separate of church and state.

"In recent years the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They see to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life," Romney said.

"It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America - the religion of secularism. They are wrong."

Romney went on to argue that America's founders were firm believers. Although they were opposed to the idea of a state religion, "they did not countenance the elimination of religion from the public square," he said.

The promise of a greater role in public life for God was a direct appeal to evangelical Christians who have balked at supporting Romney, despite a big push from his campaign for their support.

While evangelical leaders admit they are impressed by Romney's model personal life - he is married to his teenage sweetheart and is the father of five sons - they are wary of being seen to endorse his Mormon beliefs by voting for him in a presidential primary.

A Republican moderate while governor of Massachusetts, Romney is also viewed as a relatively recent adherent to the social conservatives' anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage agenda. Critics accuse him of a calculated shift to the right in time for his run for the presidency.

The former governor took an additional step to please those critics with a dig at Europe and its growing secularism.

"I have visited many of the magnificent cathedrals in Europe. They are so inspired ... so grand ... so empty," he said. "So many of the cathedrals now stand as the postcard backdrop to societies just too busy or too 'enlightened' to venture inside and kneel in prayer."

Today's treatise on faith follows repeated demands from commentators and critics that Romney offer a Kennedyesque speech on his beliefs. Romney had long resisted.

However, in recent weeks the Mormon issue emerged as perhaps the greatest liability to Romney's campaign especially in Iowa, the first state on the primary calendar.

Evangelical Christians make up between 30% to 50% of Republican caucus voters, and opinion polls this week showed Romney losing his lead in Iowa to the relative underdog Mike Huckabee, although he has outspent him 18 to one in the state.

A number of Iowa Republicans have said openly they would be unable to bring themselves to vote for a Mormon - although they are impressed by Romney's credentials as a former governor of Masschusetts, and his salvage of the Salt Lake City Olympics.

Huckabee has openly exploited such concerns, campaigning as a "Christian leader".

In his address, Romney sought to address concerns about Mormonism by pledging that his personal beliefs would exert no influence over his decisions in the White House.

However, he did not discuss his faith in detail.

"Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any 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.