Mitt Romney gave a speech on "Faith" last week that deserves a listen from every American. The speech was not a campaign speech but rather a discussion of the role of a belief in God and religious faiths in the founding and growth of our great country.
If you haven't actually heard the speech I would ask that you go to
http://mitt-tv.mittromney.com/?showid=718280 or U-tube and give it a listen. If you heard it listen again.
I am not a Mormon or even a very good Methodist. Anyone who expected the speech to be a defense of Mitt's Latter Day Saints faith can remain disappointed as the speech rises above any single faith to consideration of the need for the common value base that our country's founders found in their Judaea Christian religions.
After the speech a talk show caller stated, "I'm a Secularist. I don't need a religion to tell me the difference between right and wrong!" Absent the influence of parents, teachers and others in her formative years she would not know the difference between right and wrong and those influences all indirectly evolved from a faith and laws based on faith based principles.
A returning soldier recently explained an alternative concept of right and wrong he had
found in Iraq. "Me and My Brother against my Cousin.... Me, My Brother and My Cousin against everyone else" He explained that it meant it was alright for me and my brother to steal from my cousin or collectively to steal from anyone else.
As I listened to Mitt, it struck me that the judges who have removed the Ten Commandments from Court Houses and other public places may have premised their actions on removal of religious symbols from government, but the reality was that their value base may no longer align with the content of the Ten Commandments. Examples of such deviation from faith-based behavior is showcased in the People's Republic of Boulder where 3 judges have each used adverse possession to steal land from their neighbors.
We assume a general concept of right and wrong that had its roots in religious faith even if individually we proclaim no need for that faith. Again I ask you to give the speech a listen.