The Keeper wrote:

"...free to belong to any religion they choose, as long as they choose one."

You sound like a recruiter for Freemasons! That's their credo.


LOL.

Not me. I was paraphrasing Romney's logic, so I guess you are saying Mitt sounds like a Freemason. Hey, wasn't Joseph Smith one of those?

TruthHurts wrote:

The Keeper wrote:

"...free to belong to any religion they choose, as long as they choose one."

You sound like a recruiter for Freemasons! That's their credo.


LOL.

Not me. I was paraphrasing Romney's logic, so I guess you are saying Mitt sounds like a Freemason. Hey, wasn't Joseph Smith one of those?


I believe George Washington was a Mason and many of the presidents since then belong to the fraternity.

From the Burbank (CA) masonic lodge webpage:

MASONIC PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
George Washington, 1st President, 1789 - 1797, Commanding General during American Revolution, made a Mason August 4, 1753, in Fredericksburg Lodge (now No. 4), A. F. & A. M., Fredericksburg, Virginia.
James Monroe, 5th President, 1817 - 1825, made a Mason November 9, 1775, in Williamsburg Lodge (now No. 6), A.F. & A.M., Williamsburg, Virginia.
Andrew Jackson, 7th President, 1829 - 1837 Harmony Lodge No. 1, Nashville, Tennessee, an Honorary Member of Federal Lodge No. 1, F. & A.M., Washington, D.C., and Jackson Lodge No. 1, F. & A.M., Tallahassee, Florida. In 1822 and 1823 he served as the Grand Master of Masons in Tennessee.
James Knox Polk, 11th President, 1845 - 1849, made a Mason September 4, 1820, in Columbia Lodge No. 31, F. & A.M., Columbia, Tennessee.
James Buchanan, 15th President, 1857 - 1861, made a Mason January 24, 1817, in Lodge No. 43 (it has no name), F. & A.M., Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Andrew Johnson, 17th President, 1865 - 1869, made a Mason during May, 1851, in Greeneville Lodge No. 119 (now No. 3), F. & A.M., Greeneville, Tennessee.
James Abram Garfield, 20th President. 1881, made a Mason November 22, 1864, in Columbus Lodge No. 30 F. & A.M., Columbus, Ohio.
William McKinley, 25th President, 1897 - 1901, made a Mason May 3, 1865, in Hiram Lodge No. 21, A.F. & A.M., Winchester, Virginia.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President, 1901 - 1909, made a Mason April 24, 1901, in Matinecock Lodge No. 806, F. & A.M., Oyster Bay, New York.
William Howard Taft, 27th President, 1909 - 1913 - Chief Justice Supreme Court 1921 - 1930, made a "Mason at Sight" in an "Occassional Lodge" called for that purpose on February 18, 1909, in the Scottish Rite Cathedral, Cincinnati, Ohio, by Charles S. Hoskinson, Grand Master of Masons in Ohio.
Warren Gamaliel Harding, 29th President, 1921 - 1923, made a Mason August 27, 1920, in Marion Lodge No. 70, F. & A.M., Marion, Ohio.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President, 1933 - 1945, made a Mason November 28, 1911, in Holland Lodge No. 8, F. & A.M., New York, New York, the same Lodge in which George Washington, the Nation's first President, held Honorary membership.
Harry S. Truman, 33rd President, 1945 - 1951, made a Mason March 18, 1909, in Belton Lodge No. 450, A.F. & A.M., Belton, Missouri. He served as the Grand Master of Masons of Missouri in 1940.
Initiated: February 9, 1909, Belton Lodge No. 450, Belton, Missouri.
In 1911, several Members of Belton Lodge separated to establish Grandview Lodge No. 618, Grandview, Missouri, and Brother Truman served as its first Worshipful Master. At the Annual Session of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, September 24-25, 1940, Brother Truman was elected (by a landslide) the ninety-seventh Grand Master of Masons of Missouri, and served until October 1, 1941. Brother and President Truman was made a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, 33, and Honorary Member, Supreme Council on October 19,1945 at the Supreme Council A.A.S.R. Southern Jurisdiction Headquarters in Washington D.C., upon which occasion he served as Exemplar (Representative) for his Class. He was also elected an Honorary Grand Master of the International Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay. On May 18, 1959, Brother and Former President Truman was presented with a fifty-year award, the only U.S. President to reach that golden anniversary in Freemasonry.
Gerald R. Ford, Jr. 38th President, 1974 - 1977. He was raised to the Sublime degree of Master Mason on May 18, 1951 in Columbia Lodge No. 3, F. &.A.M., of Washington, D.C., as a courtesy for Malta Lodge No. 465, F. & A.M. of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Lyndon Baines Johnson 1908-1973. 36th President, 1963 - 1969. Entered Apprentice degree Johnson City Lodge No. 561, Johnson City, Texas October 30, 1937. Did not advance.

I thought Romney's speech was a good example of what a presidential candidate in America is required say.

If he had specifically recognized the rights of atheists et. al., he would have eroded the effect of the speech on his target audience.

This speech didn't expressly address the rights of atheists under the Constitution at all. It's a bit of an overreaction to conclude that their exclusion means that every American should choose a church. It was only one speech, for heaven's sake.

At any rate, the rights of atheists are well established in law, and no president is going to have much effect on the matter. Romney can spout about nativity scenes, but the courts, thankfully, are going to keep ordering them off government property anyway.

Having said all that, I will renew my prediction from many months ago. Romney will be the GOP nominee by virtue of elimination.

GrackMarginal wrote:

I thought Romney's speech was a good example of what a presidential candidate in America is required say.

If he had specifically recognized the rights of atheists et. al., he would have eroded the effect of the speech on his target audience.

This speech didn't expressly address the rights of atheists under the Constitution at all. It's a bit of an overreaction to conclude that their exclusion means that every American should choose a church. It was only one speech, for heaven's sake.

At any rate, the rights of atheists are well established in law, and no president is going to have much effect on the matter. Romney can spout about nativity scenes, but the courts, thankfully, are going to keep ordering them off government property anyway.

Having said all that, I will renew my prediction from many months ago. Romney will be the GOP nominee by virtue of elimination.


And I told you that you were crazy back then. Crazy is as crazy does, huh? GM, you may very well be right. And I will tell you why. MR had to hit a home run yesterday, just as Kirk Gibson had to hit a HR in the 1989 world series. It was the only thing that Mitt could do to save the day. And he hit it out of the park.

Wren wrote:

It was the only thing that Mitt could do to save the day. And he hit it out of the park.


Romney's speech was just another "flip flop" in that he has said he is not running for "Pastor in Chief", but according to the speech, he is. Philosophically, of course.

If you look at the speech, he mentioned the word Mormon only once, and with the exception of that sentence and switching references of Massachusetts to Arkansas, the whole speech was a generic "pro-religion" speech that could have been given by Mike Huckabee. It was basically a plea for the faithful of all religions to band together against the faithless, with the former defining the latter. Pandering to the religious right wing (particularly the Evangelicals) of the Republican party.

Mitt Romney is indeed running for Pastor in Chief. It won't work, however. Those Evangelicals will support one of their own. Huckabee. Those poll numbers from yesterday showing Romney a distant fourth and only a point above Fred Thompson won't change much.