A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

You can find a videocast of it here (I guess they are going to have it as a gateway to the site for a while) and the transcript can be found here. It was, of course, a very eloquent speech. Those who want to find out the details and specifics of Mormonism will be disappointed, but Romney's speech was not meant to be a tutorial and JFK's famous speech on religion wasn't exactly a rundown of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. What I think most people want from Romney is reassurance that his faith is in line with the basic and mainstream American tradition underlying the formulation and propagation of the values of the nation. Romney wove the American tradition fully and firmly into his speech so as to align himself with that tradition. And he appears to have done it well.

At the very least, I hope that he has done it well. With wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, with terrorism and other national security challenges staring us in the face, with continuing economic challenges here at home and abroad and with an education crisis confronting us, we certainly have better things to deal with than seeking to figure out the specific tenets of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Maybe it is high time that we focus on the more important issues confronting us and leave the faiths of the candidates to the candidates themselves.

We could do worse. And thus far, too many have.