ISSUE: Romney speech about being a Mormon 

OUR VIEW: Emphasis on Mormonism could alienate Christian conservatives

President John Kennedy said in 1960 that he was running for president as an American, not a Catholic American. The Massachusetts senator went on to defeat Richard M. Nixon and become president. In a country with a Protestant majority, conventional wisdom was it could not happen.

Fast forward to 2007-08 and another Massachusetts politician is in the running for president. Mitt Romney is a former Massachusetts governor, elected as a Mormon in a majority-Catholic state.

It would be easy enough to say that Romney's success speaks to his political ability and to the importance Americans place on separating religion from government. And in a melting-pot nation such as the United States, there are many examples of people from different religions and ethnicities being the elected choices of those from other groups.

Yet Romney knows his religion is a spoken and unspoken issue in the presidential race, particularly in a Republican nominating process in which Christian conservatives play a key role.

Until recently, Romney has shied away from discussing his Mormon faith in favor of the Kennedy approach. He has received public support in that position from Christian conservatives in his corner.

But things have changed. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a one-time Southern Baptist minister, has shown increasing strength, particularly in Iowa. Christian conservatives are a key reason.

Against that backdrop, Romney this past week made a public address about his religion. There are risks in such emphasis.

So few people truly understand the Mormon faith and relationship with Christianity.

Mormons, for example, believe that authentic Christianity vanished a century after Jesus and was restored only through Joseph Smith, whom Mormons consider a prophet. Smith also revised -- and, in his view, corrected -- large sections of the Bible in the 19th century, an act of heresy in the eyes of Protestant and Roman Catholic leaders.

In a poll last month by The Associated Press and Yahoo, half of those surveyed expressed discomfort voting for a presidential candidate who is a Mormon, including 20 percent who said that would make them very uncomfortable.

Only time will tell whether Romney's decision to address his religion in a forthright way was wise one. It amounts to putting all his cards on the table, an admirable position for him as a candidate and person. Yet it is a move that could backfire as Republican voters decide the difference between Mormons and Christians is to wide a bridge to cross.

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