Hey Mitt, Does Freedom Really Require Religion?
FORT DES MOINES - Mitt Romney was deluged today with questions about yesterday's speech on faith, specifically about the statement that: "Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom."
“It was a speech on faith in America, first of all,” Romney said, during a testy exchange with reporters after a town hall forum here. He said he was paraphrasing what John Adams and George Washington once said and added that, “For a nation like ours to be great and to thrive, that our Constitution was written for people of faith, and religion is a very extraordinary element and very necessary foundation for our nation. I believe that’s the case.”
Near the end of the media avail, he was asked if he thought a non-spiritual person could be a free person, and he said: “Of course not, that’s not what I said.” Pressed again about the freedom requiring religion line, he said, “I was talking about the nation.”
Romney was also asked about the politics of his speech and reiterated, “You know that’s not what the speech was about,” and then again said it was about the role of faith in America.
Romney was also asked about the lawn service company that he used at his Belmont home. In a statement released by his campaign this week, Romney said he had given the company a "second chance" to fire all illegal workers but that they had not complied and he finally broke ties with them.
Asked if he should take additional precautions, he said, “It’s not something as a homeowner that I’m able to do, and it’s not something which is available under our current system in this country.”
After being pressed again, he turned the question back at the reporter and asked if he should ask every waiter in each restaurant he dines in if they are legal.
He tried instead to tout his own employee verification system to identify illegal immigrants and suggested that the onus should be with employers, not homeowners, to vet workers.
(NBC/NJ's ERIN MCPIKE)
Hmm that religion citation of John Adam's has been getting a lot of attention. Yes freedom of worship requires freedom of thought and vice versa. Don't forget he was citing John Adams. This wasn't his own quote.
Wanted to point out that neither George Washington or John Adams were christian. And as a matter of fact John Adams endorsed the treaty of tripoli which states "The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religeon." And it is very clear that the founding fathers wanted a seperation of church and state, and though most of the framers of the constitution were deists they felt that religion and government should not be intertwined.