At one point, though, he opted for prose over accuracy by saying "freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom." Sociologist Os Guinness said it better, that "freedom requires virtue, virtue requires religion, and religion requires freedom."
Virtue - a person's ability to control his desires and order his actions according to the Golden Rule - makes freedom and democracy possible. For most, virtue is derived from religion, but that hardly means a man without religion cannot reason his way to virtue. Witness the ancient Greeks.
Our Constitution granted unprecedented liberty to the individual. But liberty without virtue devolves into license; and license, into chaos. This truth can be seen in the violent lawlessness that plagues our city today. Would we have less violence if our city's young were regular churchgoers and religion formed their consciences? The basic choice is this: Do we want to be governed more by well-formed consciences and social norms or by intrusive police states and detailed legal codes?
That said, the Romney speech came in the context of two concerns that some voters have raised about his religion: How would his Mormon faith affect his presidency? Would a Mormon president enhance the stature of Mormonism and lead more Americans to convert to that faith?
