Romney's Response to his Faith Speech

On Fox News "Hannity and Colmes", Mitt Romney responded to the criticism that his speech left out non-believers.

COLMES: You said freedom requires religion, religion requires freedom. But aren't there people who are very religious in countries that are not free? And aren't there people who have the freedom to have no religion? So I wonder if it's really true that religion requires freedom and freedom requires religion in every case?


ROMNEY: Well, that was not referring person by person, of course, Alan. That was a — that was a comment I made following the quote from John Adams, where he said this nation and our Constitution could not survive, could not work without morality and religion.


And his point, which I summarized, is that in fact, freedom in this nation, the greatness of this nation does require, in my view, a religious base, a conviction that there is a creator. That doesn't mean every single person has to be religious, but that overall, a recognition of the role of a creator is an important element of our morality and of our society.


And I think that long-term you'll see that this country remains a great nation, as we have a religious foundation.

So, what was his answer?

It's a bit like saying, "Water can be drinkable even if it has a few poisons in it. When I say that we need drinkable water, and drinkable water requires H20, I am not saying that every single molecule in the water has to be an H20 molecule. We can have a little bit of lead, arsenic, and other contaminants. However, for the most part, we have to recognize that these are contaminants, and that we cannot tolerate their existence beyond some basic trace amounts."

This is true of water.

To say that it is true of atheists in the community is still hate-mongering bigotry. It still says that Romney is running as the President who views atheists as poisons and contaminants that can be tolerated, but only in trace amounts.