A reader protests:
To reduce not mentioning atheists and agnostics as “not reaching out to Christopher Hitchens” is to not fully understand the import of that omission. There are large minority (a number that would be staggering to you, I would think) of conservatives and libertarians, many of whom attend church and synagogue for family and social reasons who, if being honest, are not believers. This includes some of your colleagues, by the way. There are significant pressures not to acknowledge non-belief in public, particularly when one’s politics are right-wing. They are VERY aware that Romney’s message of inclusion did not include them and their decision in the primary just got a lot easier.
Of course, I know there are more atheists and agnostics than Mr. Hitchens, and some of them are friends and colleagues of mine. But Romney gave a good speech on founding principles. We’re free to worship and not to worship — that’s at the heart of “our grand tradition of religious tolerance and liberty” that Romney talked about. But God is in Whom we trust as a nation. And a leader shouldn’t have to apologize when he invokes Him.