Massachusetts Senator John Kennedy became America's first Catholic president after a speech in which he said no Catholic prelate would tell him what to do in the White House. In Texas today, less than 100 miles from where Kennedy made his address, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said he does not define his presidential candidacy by his Mormon religion. He promised that if he's elected "no authorities of [his] church… will ever exert influence on presidential decisions." With a Constitutional ban on religious tests for public office, is it political bigotry to question any candidate's faith, or does Mormonism raise specific questions some voters have the right to ask? Did Romney tell them what they wanted to know?
Mitt Romney and Religion in America's Public Life
Credits
Guests:
- Neil Swidley - Reporter, Boston Globe
- Damon Linker - former Professor of Political Philosophy, Brigham Young University
- Richard Bushman - Professor Emeritus of History, Columbia University
- Janice Shaw Crouse - Concerned Women for America - @CWforA
- Barry W. Lynn - Americans United for Separation of Church and State