Should Mitt Romney's religion matter?

Chuck Colson has a message for the church: stop talking about Mitt Romney’s Mormonism. In a Christian Post interview, he reminded readers that Article VI of the United States Constitutions states, “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” In a truly free society, that idea should be respected.

Colson also mentioned the fact that many past presidents have claimed they were Christians, when in fact it’s doubtful that they were, yet they got the job done. This makes sense to us.

We want elected officials who refuse to be bribed by campaign contributions from special interest groups, who are unafraid to prioritize the national good over the limited interests of their immediate constituency, who will defend the right to life on all the fronts where it has been attacked, who stand for traditional marriage, who believe able bodied Americans should work for a living while helping neighbors who cannot, who refuse to apply one standard of law to individuals and another to corporations, who will resist the temptation to impose the government’s power in pursuit of social engineering experiments, who understands we need to leave the environment in good shape for our children’s sake but balance that against the needs of people now, and who act authentically with the courage of their actual convictions, rather than responding to the latest polls.

None of those qualities require Christian belief, therefore we agree it makes no sense to apply a religious test to candidates. But those qualities are more commonly found within the Christian community than elsewhere, which is why would would prefer a Christian over a candidate from any other belief system.