Everybody’s abuzz about Mitt Romney’s much-hyped speech on faith and politics at the George H.W. Bush library on Thursday. He was like John F. Kennedy, some commentators said. He was like George Washington, others exclaimed. It was as good as the Gettysburg Address, still others said. (Actually those last two were attributed to Romney’s wife, Ann, who was quoting unnamed "people.")

We’re not going to dissect the speech in detail (that’s been done better than we could over at the Las Vegas Gleaner.) But we did want to focus on one line in Romney’s speech, the line that we think motivated him to come to Texas to talk God and politics in the first place.

"There is one fundamental question about which I am often asked. What do I believe about Jesus Christ? I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind. My church’s beliefs about Christ may not be all be the same as those of other faiths."

Now, apart from the fact that the traditional Christian understanding of Jesus Christ being significantly different than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ understanding, this, it seems to us, was the central line of the speech. Why? Because it was in this line that Romney was begging evangelical Christians to ignore the fact that he’s a Mormon, and consider him one of the fold.

In other words, while decrying any kind of religious test (even noting that religious tests are prohibited by the Constitution) Romney was seeking to pass a religious test, in order to pass a political one. He wants to be considered just another devout religious conservative, just like all those Christians who are currently flocking to somebody who actually is one of them, i.e. Mike Huckabee. And in modern Republican politics, if you’re not religious, you can’t be president.

Passing the GOP religious test is also why Romney added the follow-up line: "There are some who have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church’s distinctive doctrines. To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the Constitution."

Not only that, but it would also expose a whole lot of voters who know nothing about Mormon doctrine to — let’s just be kind here — some truly surprising things. And it would expose Christian voters to an understanding of the nature of God, the universe and the afterlife that is quite alien to the traditional Christian understanding.

And even if you forget theology, how about the church’s dicey history with things like bigamy and civil rights? (Romney noted his father marched with Martin Luther King Jr. — but it wasn’t until the Carter administration that his church let blacks into the priesthood. Now that’s not ancient history; it’s modern times, and why open the door for Romney, a former clergyman in his church, to have to answer for that?)

Better to say nothing on the subject, and avoid pointed questions later on. In fact, we will bet anybody a copy of the Book of Mormon that Romney will now deflect all questions about religion by referring people to this speech, a speech that had but one purpose: To help Mitt Romney pass a religious test required for office, not by the Constitution, but by his party.