Religion and Politics
By: Candace Hutchins
Updated: December 4, 2007
All but one of our presidents have been Protestants, the Catholic, of course, John F. Kennedy. And while most of our presidential hopefuls have been open about their religious stance, that hasn't been the case for republican candidate Mitt Romney, who's Mormon, until now. The former massachusetts governor announced today that he will deliver a much anticipated speech on religion and faith this Thursday in Houston. Romney's Mormon faith has been an underlying theme of his presidential candidacy but an area that he and his campaign have shied away from. But now that he is coming forth with his religious stance, many are comparing him to J.F.K. who spoke in Texas about religion nearly a half century ago.
Religious leaders in Lubbock agree that religion is an important part of politics, in learning who the candidates are, but thats not the only thing voters should consider.
"It's gonna play a part with some people. I think overall you need to assess the overall conviction. The overall belief and their visions and values and it may be at the end of the day that they don't line up with that persons belief but when you look at the totalilty of it, I think that's where people will make their conclusion, says Pastor Brad Jurkovich, Victory Life."A CBS news poll from June shows 43 percent of registered voters would not vote for a presidential candidate who is Mormon. While a poll from February claimed 57 percent of voters knew little or nothing about the Mormon faith.
