Posted on 03/04/2007 1:21:23 PM PST by billorites
MANCHESTER – Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the Judeo Christian values that helped found America continue to guide the country today.
On the campaign trail and in the media, Romney has faced questions about his Mormon faith and whether it could hurt his chances to win the Republican Party's nomination.
"The fundamental principle of faith of Judeo Christian (belief) is there is a God, who is our heavenly Father and all the people on this earth and every speck of humanity on this earth is a creation of God ... And every creation of humanity is a child of God," Romney told the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News in an interview last week.
While this country welcomes Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and other faiths, he said, the Judeo Christian tradition remains its foundation.
Romney's positions on abortion, same-sex marriages and stem cell research have changed and are now in line with religious conservatives. Once a moderate on social issues, Romney now says: "If you had somebody in the private sector who didn't change their mind when they knew they were wrong, you fired them because they were stubborn.
"I'm happy to admit when I make mistakes and go on. And my experience is that to the voters, the response is overwhelmingly positive: 'We've got a guy who'll admit his mistakes, tell us what he's going to do and he'll honor that,'" Romney told the Associated Press after an appearance in Concord Thursday.
Having Judeo Christian values also means as a people, Americans reach out to people in need, he said at the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News offices. "When we see people suffering, we feel as though it's a brother or a sister suffering," said Romney, who has a vacation home in Wolfeboro.
Seeing what is going on in Darfur, Sudan, brings pain to people's hearts, he said, just as the world's problems cause concerns.
Romney said he believes the First Amendment of the Constitution has been misinterpreted to mean that no religion should be established. Instead, he said, some believe that means establishing secularism, which is not a religion.
Romney said he would retain the word "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, on U.S. money and in public places. "They give us a sense of remembrance of who we are and we are all related through our Divine heritage," he said. "There is a creator, and we are the family of humankind."
America's culture is what has made the country successful and the power it is, Romney said. "By in large, we are a God-fearing people."
But he noted, American culture is under attack by radical Islamists, by the economies of China and India and from within by problems such as out-of-control immigration and too many people without access to health care.
"The family structure is critical to our society. We will not succeed if 60 percent of our children are born out of wedlock," he said.
But, he added, "I'm not wringing my hands with worry. America does well when faced by challenges ... Washington is the problem. It's not a Republican or a Democratic thing."
Romney portrayed himself as an outsider who is not a career politician and is willing to work in a bipartisan manner to make needed changes.
"I am not a life-long politician. I'm in this because I care about my kids and my grandkids and I care about your kids and grandkids," Romney said.
He said he does not want America to become the "France of the 21st century," noting that France began the 20th century as a world power, but lost that designation by the end of the century.
America still has time to deal with the issues that must be addressed in order to avoid a similar fate, Romney said.
He said the United States needs to do more to free itself from the grip of oil-producing countries, many of which are not friendly. "It's like paying the cannibals to eat you last," he said.
Romney, who as Massachusetts governor opposed a proposed wind farm off Cape Cod, said he would favor such a proposal in Buzzard's Bay. "I'd be happy to have a wind farm, but not in Nantucket Sound, or the Grand Canyon, or Chesapeake Bay or the Bay of Fundy," he said.
Along with alternative energy sources, the country needs to strive for greater energy efficiencies, Romney said. This country has yet to make a real effort to save energy, he noted, saying it cannot be done in 10 years, but could be accomplished in 20 years.
If the country becomes energy independent, he noted, it would not have to deal with someone like Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, who is providing cheap heating oil to low-income residents of many Northeastern states, while severely criticizing the Bush administration.
"We have stopped thinking about Latin America in this country and we need to change that," Romney said.
He first gained national recognition for his role in turning around the 2002 Winter Olympics.
From 1978 to 1984, Romney was vice president at Bain & Company, Inc. In 1984, he founded Bain Capital, a venture capital and investment company.
Romney received his B.A. from Brigham Young University in 1971, and was awarded an MBA from Harvard Business School, and received his law degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Does Ann Coulter still like him?
"The fundamental principle of faith of Judeo Christian (belief) is there is a God, who is our heavenly Father and all the people on this earth and every speck of humanity on this earth is a creation of God ... And every creation of humanity is a child of God," Romney told the New Hampshire Union Leader
Actually, that is not Judeo Christian belief - it is universalism. But then, he is a mormon, not a Christian.
ampu
How many gods does the religion of Mormons encompass? Did (or do) Mormons teach and profess that every Mormon male can become a god, provided he obeys certain rules and ordinances?
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