"Freedom requires religion." Really??

Mitt Romney has been getting all kinds of praise from reporters and pundits for his speech trying to put voters at ease that he is a Mormon. I thought parts of his speech were good, but parts were strange and inconsistent. For instance, if there should be no religious test for presidential candidates, then why the need to proclaim your belief that "Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind?" Those two statements just don't fit together in the same speech...

But, the biggest failing of the speech, as noted in a Washington Post editorial today, was Romney's failure to include ALL Americans as equal. He may have reached out to other religious communities, but he purposely left out A LOT of good Americans:

Where Mr. Romney most fell short, though, was in his failure to recognize that America is composed of citizens not only of different faiths but of no faith at all and that the genius of America is to treat them all with equal dignity. "Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom," Mr. Romney said. But societies can be both secular and free. The magnificent cathedrals of Europe may be empty, as Mr. Romney said, but the democracies of Europe are thriving.

"Americans acknowledge that liberty is a gift of God, not an indulgence of government," Mr. Romney said. But not all Americans acknowledge that, and those who do not may be no less committed to the liberty that is the American ideal.