U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will try to convince Christians that he shares their values in a speech Thursday in Texas.
The former Massachusetts governor is a devout Mormon - a religion founded in 1830. Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and adhere to the Bible. But they also have their own set of doctrines based on the Book of Mormon.
An estimated six million people in the United States belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the formal name of the Mormon faith. But recent surveys suggest many Americans view the religion with suspicion, and a quarter of them would not vote for a Mormon for president.
Romney has been losing support in the midwestern state of Iowa to Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor. The state in early January will hold the first contest in the party nominating process for the 2008 elections.
Conservative Christians make up a large part of the Republican Party voting base.
Romney's speech is being held at the presidential library of George H.W. Bush, father of the current president. The library is located near the city of Houston, where Democrat John F. Kennedy gave a historic speech in 1960. In that speech, the future president assured a group of Protestant ministers that his Catholic faith would not influence how he would govern.
