Three words for you and Mr. Romney: Sweden, Saudi Arabia.

On my second read, I noticed that Romney asserted that freedom is a God-given entitlement, a right human beings are born with. In that sense God/religion gives rise to freedom. Romney also argued the flip side: religion thrives in a free environment. No debate about that!

As for wearing his faith on his sleeve: I have been writing about Mitt Romney’s political career since 1993. I’m quite certain he would have preferred that his religion not be an issue then or now. Unfortunately it was THE ISSUE (not of his making) in his run against Senator Edward Kennedy in 1994, it was still an issue in 2002 when he ran for governor of my state; and, obviously, it has been a huge isse so far in his campaign for the Presidency. Mormon bugaboos have been chasing him for more than a year now. The difference this time around is that he got out in front of them a bit. I think it’s fair to say that Mormon issue was not his doing; quite the opposite.

Finally: please read carefully. I wrote that ROMNEY thinks “believers” have been somewhat excluded from the public square. ROMNEY referenced incidents like Mangers and Menorahs being banned from public property in some cities and towns. The point is: ROMNEY made the arguments, I did not.

Do I agree with him? The examples he drew, while a little too trite and over-wrought for me, were, nonetheless, real and celebrated. In that sense they probably appealed to HIS intended audience: Christian fundamentalists and Southern Baptists in Iowa, primarily, who apparently have been taught that Mormonism is not a Christian religion.

I hope that helps you understand me a little better. Romney too, perhaps.

RB Scott
Boston

So, in a world in which 70% of this country is Christian, and the President wears his faith on his sleeve, you’re trying to claim “believers” have been excluded from the public square? That’s rich.

You write: “[Romney says] Those of us who don’t believe in Christianity, those of us who don’t believe in God … have no place in the American experiment… can’t be relied on to uphold the principles of our Constitution, and don’t have the morality necessary to keep a Republic.

“If any of this is not what the former governor meant, by all means let him correct himself. I emailed the Romney campaign this morning asking where atheists and agnostics fit into his vision of America.”

We must listened to different speeches. The one I heard did not exclude agnostics and athiests from the public square. The speech I heard invited believers back into the public square, which, in his opinion has excluded them in recent years.

Will Romney’s people respond to you? Who knows. But they may rightly be reluctant to bother with a journalist who consistently gets his facts wrong and openly admits to detesting Mitt Romney?

RB Scott
Boston, MA.