Romney Speech Reiterates "Freedom Requires Religion"May 9, 2008 Citing examples from George Washington and John Adams to Pope Benedict XVI, former presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney clarified and reiterated his staunch belief that "freedom requires religion" in a speech yesterday (May 8) in New York.
"I do believe, like Adams and Washington and Hamilton, that "national morality" as Hamilton put it, "require[s] the aid of...divinely authoritative religion." Or as Washington put it, morality cannot prevail "in exclusion of religious principle." I believe that religion is the most effective bulwark against moral relativism-which, as I have seen through my life, can be so malleable that it can label "evil good, and good evil;" in the words of Isaiah and "put darkness for light, and light for darkness," said Mr. Romney.
Speaking before friends and supporters of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty at the Metropolitan Club in New York, Mr. Romney and his wife Ann were celebrated and awarded the Becket Fund's prestigious Canterbury Medal for "Courage in the Defense of Religious Liberty."
"At every turn, (the Romneys) had to explain their faith - to defend the good and venerable teachings of the Mormon Church," said Ann Corkery, a former U.S. diplomat and current director of philanthropy at Security National Servicing, Corp, in conferring the award. "The Canterbury Medal is awarded to those who refuse to compromise their principles and faith, and do so "resolutely." If there were additional honors for graciousness in defense of their faith, for modesty and sheer decency, we would be conferring those medals as well on Mitt and Ann Romney," she said.
Mr. Romney told the hushed audience that he missed an opportunity in December when as a candidate he gave a speech to address questions regarding his Mormon faith, his presidential campaign and the role of faith in politics in America. At the time, Romney critics said that non-believers are missing in Mr. Romney's vision of America.
Last night, Mr. Romney rejected this, saying that in a free society atheists enjoy all the freedoms of religious believers and non-believers have just as great a stake as believers in defending religious liberty.
In a coercive society "it may be the non-believer who is among the first to be condemned. A coercive monopoly of belief threatens everyone, whether we are talking about those who search the philosophies of men or follow the words of God. "We are all in this together. Religious liberty and liberality of thought flow from the common conviction that it is freedom, not coercion, that exalts the individual just as it raises up the nation," he said.
The Washington, D.C. based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a civil rights law firm founded by Kevin "Seamus" Hasson, to defend the rights and practice of all religious faiths. The Canterbury Medal is awarded annually to the public figure who "resolutely and publicly refused to render unto Caesar that which is God's." Past recipients include Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel, Mary Ann Glendon of Harvard Law School and current U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See and Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries.
Read entire Romney speech here.
Read Ann Corkery's introduction of the Canterbury Medal and the Romneys here.
Media Coverage:
Salt Lake City Tribune (PDF)
Dallas Morning News
Townhall.com
National Review Online
Beliefnet
ABC News
U.S. News and World Report (PDF)
Washington Times
Politico
Catholic World News
Contact:
Tom Carter
Communications Director
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
202-349-7205 (office)
202-538-2044 (cell)
www.becketfund.org
About The Becket Fund
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is an interfaith, public-interest law firm
that defends the free expression of all religious traditions. For more
information or to make a tax deductible contribution, call (202) 955-0095 or
visit us on the web at www.becketfund.org. Resources & Documents
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