What Romney always wanted to say

He finally did, today.

Mitt Romney made a broad appeal to voters in his speech on faith and politics Thursday, pledging to serve no one religion if he is elected, while at the same time stressing the importance of religious liberty and defending his right to worship as a Mormon.

Romney made the speech in an attempt to answer skepticism about his religion. But he only made brief specific references to Mormonism, underscoring instead what he called the “common creed of moral convictions” shared by Americans and the value of the nation’s “symphony of faith.”

“Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom,” Romney said. “Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.”

When I heard that part, about the middle of the speech, I stopped and thought about martyrs. A free society may not ultimately endure without religion in the masses, without reference to the Creator as the nation’s Founding Fathers firmly established. But there are Catholics and Christians suffering terrible persecution alone in prison cells around the world, deprived of freedom, but enduring in their faith. The martyrs witnessed to the invincible power of that faith.

But back to the speech…

While Romney pivoted his half-hour address on clearly establishing the lines between his personal faith and the responsibilities of public office, he said his convictions would “inform” his presidency. And he criticized what he called an attempt to take the notion of separation of church and state well beyond its original intention, complaining that some seek to remove any recognition of God from the public domain.

“It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America — the religion of secularism. They are wrong,” Romney said, to strong and lasting applause.

You can read the full text of it here.