<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/102813bb-bfe3-4fbd-9277-06803e9cee4d/C6AD330B-2217-477B-AA2A-4B87EE4181CD/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.philocrites.com/archives/003823.html" href="http://www.philocrites.com/archives/003823.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.philocrites.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.philocrites.com/archives/003823.html">In his <A href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/06/excerpts_from_romney_address_on_religion/?page=full">much-discussed speech</A> in Texas this week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tried to shrink the big tent of American religious toleration even as he tried to make sure that Mormonism finds a place inside it. Many commentators have noted how Romney's speech endorsed a <A href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/opinion/07brooks.html?ex=1354770000&en=5da8f9a45a73a145&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink">reactionary conflict between "people of faith" and "secularism"</A> — conservative columnist David Brooks is especially good on this point — but I haven't yet seen anyone point to the way Romney subtly excluded a lot of people who aren't "seculars."</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.philocrites.com/archives/003823.html">It's a pity Romney hasn't encountered more faiths. Rhetorically, the speech offers this list of the qualities he admires about other faiths as a personal statement about things Romney wishes Mormonism had, too, but it's more than that. The passage also fleshes out Romney's version of religious pluralism (or, to be generous, the version of religious pluralism he thinks he can affirm in a Republican primary). And what a narrow, conservative pluralism it is.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/C6AD330B-2217-477B-AA2A-4B87EE4181CD/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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