Religious politicians: kooks or not?

Rod Dreher asks:

I agree that it was stupid that Romney should have had to have given that speech, but American political culture really left him little choice. As silly as that may seem — as silly as it is — is Britain really better off? This, from Jeff Jacoby’s column on Romney today:

It was on Sunday that the Romney campaign announced the forthcoming speech, saying the candidate would discuss how his “own faith would inform his presidency if he were elected.”