US:Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has confronted misgivings among some conservatives about his Mormon faith, promising that his church would not influence the White House but insisting that his religion should not prevent him from becoming president.
In a long-anticipated speech at the George HW Bush presidential library in College Station, Texas, the former Massachusetts governor echoed the words of John F Kennedy in 1960, when he argued that his Catholic faith would not determine his decisions as president.
"When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God," Mr Romney said. "If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest. A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States."
Mr Romney did not address specific questions about Mormonism, which many evangelical Christians do not regard as a Christian church, but he refused to distance himself from his religion.
"I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavour to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers - I will be true to them and to my beliefs. Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it. But I think they underestimate the American people. Americans do not respect believers of convenience," he said.
Mr Romney's advisers have long hinted that he would address the issue of his faith in a major speech but his decision to make the speech this week may have been prompted by the rise of rival Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and an ordained Baptist minister.
Mr Huckabee has shot into the lead in Iowa, which holds the first caucus on January 3rd, partly because of the support of evangelical Christians, more than half of whom told an opinion poll last month that they have reservations about voting for a Mormon candidate.
In his speech yesterday, Mr Romney took care to address many of the concerns of conservative Christians, notably a fear that religion is being driven out of the public sphere in the US.
"We separate church and state affairs in this country, and for good reason. No religion should dictate to the state, nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion. But in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America - the religion of secularism. They are wrong," he said.
Unlike Kennedy, who suggested in 1960 that his faith was an essentially private matter, Mr Romney acknowledged yesterday that his belief in God informed his political convictions. The speech was well-received yesterday but some Christian commentators warned that Mr Romney may have raised questions in voters' minds about Mormonism that could prove a liability in the weeks ahead.
When Kennedy spoke in 1960, Catholics made up almost 30 per cent of the American population; today; Mormons account for only 2 per cent of Americans.
Mr Romney's speech came as a new poll showed him retaining a strong lead in New Hampshire over former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is ahead in national polls. The Marist College poll said Mr Romney was the choice of 29 per cent of likely voters in January's primary, compared to 17 per cent for Mr Giuliani, who tied in second place with Arizona senator John McCain.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton, who has slipped behind Barack Obama in Iowa, remains ahead in New Hampshire, although an ABC News/Washington Post poll shows her lead narrowing.
The poll gives Mrs Clinton 35 per cent, compared to 29 per cent for Mr Obama and 17 per cent for John Edwards.