Romney Continues to Call Atheists Immoral

May 14, 2008

In his now-infamous "Faith in America" speech last December, Mitt Romney stated that "Freedom requires religion," ignoring the existence of tens of millions of nontheistic Americans as he discussed belief in our society.

In what is perhaps a belated response to the criticism his speech generated, Mr. Romney did acknowledge last week that nontheists must enjoy all the freedoms bestowed on religious believers and that nontheists perhaps have a greater stake than believers in defending religious liberty. He acknowledged that "In a coercive society, it may be the non-believer who is among the first to be condemned. A coercive monopoly of belief threatens everyone, whether we are talking about those who search the philosophies of men or follow the words of God. We are all in this together. Religious liberty and liberality of thought flow from the common conviction that it is freedom, not coercion, that exalts the individual just as it raises up the nation."

While the Secular Coalition for America appreciates his growth in understanding that nontheists are Americans and should enjoy all the rights of being Americans, Mr. Romney reiterated statements from his December speech that "morality cannot prevail in exclusion of religious principles" and "freedom requires religion." We hope that Mr. Romney will some day also see that these statements are incorrect and are offensive to the tens of millions of Americans without a god belief.

Romney was awarded the Canterbury Medal for "Courage in the Defense of Religious Liberty" by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty on May 8th. According to the Becket Fund, this award is bestowed on those who "refuse to compromise their principles and faith, and do so 'resolutely.'"

See a more in-depth Coalition response to Romney's December speech in our Faith in America press release. Also see: Romney Speech Reiterates "Freedom Requires Religion" (The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty).