Mitt Romney talked about faith today at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Tex. The candidate’s address ratified his commitment to freedom of religion and civil liberties.

The memorized speech included bible verses and references to the freedoms granted by the constitution to Americans to practice any religion.

“Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone,” he said.

“There are some who may feel that religion is not a matter to be seriously considered in the context of the weighty threats that face us. If so, they are at odds with the nation’s founders,” Romney said.

Earlier this week, a senior Romney campaign official had said that the address would “not going to be a lesson in Mormon doctrine” but rather “an open discussion of how important and critical faith has been and is in Romney’s life” and “how faith is what shapes our values.”

Romney assured that his commitment to his own religion still stands strong. “I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers – I will be true to them and to my beliefs,” he said, adding that if his faith hurts his candidacy, “so be it.”

However, the candidate also emphasized that his religion would not affect his presidential decisions. Romney quoted Kennedy to prove his point: “Almost 50 years ago another candidate from Massachusetts explained that he was an American running for president, not a Catholic running for president,” - “Like him [Kennedy], I am an American running for president. I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith.”

Romney said he thought some have taken the idea of separation of church and state beyond its original meaning by trying to remove any acknowledgment of God from the public arena. “It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America – the religion of secularism. They are wrong,” he said.

For those of you who would like to hear the speech, here is is Romney’s speech in mp3 audio file:

Romney on Religion

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