Taking the stage under a cloudy sky, presidential candidate Mitt Romney charged the graduates of Regent University with forsaking the shallow water and seeking the more profound depths where life is about others, one's "spouse, family, friends, faith, community, country."

It could have been just one of the routine commencements held across the nation Saturday - but this was a Mormon addressing students of a school that labels itself "America's pre-eminent Christian university," a scene pundits could predict would be tense given the evangelical community's concerns with followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

But as with Saturday and the first four months of his campaign, Romney's religion has not risen as the high hurdle once predicted. The White House hopeful has faced several other campaign bumps, but his religion - one viewed with hesitancy by many evangelical Protestants - appears to be taking a back seat.

Romney steered away from any specific mentions of his faith on Saturday, opting for broader mentions of marriage, of service, of faith in God, and the spirit that drives America. Graduates should strive to go beyond the bounds of comfort, Romney advised, like great Americans before them.

"This too is your heritage, to reach beyond the shallows of selfishness and to shape the character of the nation," Romney said, draped with a black robe and scarlet-rimmed graduation hood. "The deep water will be more rewarding and more exhilarating than you can imagine. Come on in, the water's fine."

Speaking at Regent, a school founded by televangelist Pat Robertson and home to the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), is one of many movements Romney has taken to assure wary voters that he and they are not unalike.

When news broke that Romney would address graduates, some students and alumni balked. They argued the pulpit at Regent was reserved for those who follow their same tenets. CBN's Web site lists the LDS Church as a cult.

"Mormons are some of the most exemplary human beings, especially in regard to their behavior patterns and their adherence to the fundamental values of our society," the site says. "But their religious beliefs are, to put it simply, wrong."

Robertson avoided any talk of that Saturday and introduced Romney as a "person of great distinction" and an "outstanding American."

Those attending were gracious to the Mormon.

"His message seems to be pretty impressive, very strong," said John Rivers, a Southern Baptist from Richmond, Va. "Nothing offended me."

"He's a good, upstanding person," added evangelical Christian Trevor Hartman of Charleston, S.C., who dismissed any need for concern about Romney's faith. "There's no reason for a protest," he said. "You wouldn't be a good Christian if you did that."

The bias that exists against Mormons may not be explicit, says Grover Norquist, head of the Americans for Tax Reform and a well-known Republican activist in Washington. People may not admit they wouldn't vote for a Mormon because they would appear prejudiced, but that doesn't mean they don't harbor those feelings.

"I've never heard anyone say, 'I wouldn't vote for him,' " Norquist says. "But I've heard people predicting that will happen."

That may explain, in some ways, recent polls showing Romney in double-digits in Iowa and New Hampshire while still a blip in voters' radar in South Carolina. The three states are the first in the primary and caucus battle for the nomination.

Romney comes in second in New Hampshire, with 24 percent of those surveyed backing him, according to a poll by the American Research Group published last week. That's 5 points behind Arizona Sen. John McCain.

But in South Carolina, home to a large evangelical Protestant population, Romney clocks in with only 6 percent, compared to 36 percent for McCain and 23 percent for ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the poll shows.

In South Carolina, Romney has fielded a large team to shore up support with conservatives there and is reaching out to evangelicals in small groups. Republicans there say they are receiving a color flier almost every week from Romney, who also ran television commercials in the three early primary states and nationwide.

Rick Beltram, chairman of the Spartanburg, S.C., Republican Party, says there were some anti-Mormon, anti-Romney materials floating around the south in February and early March, but that effort has waned.

"There's not a lot of conversation about it, not like there used to be," Beltram says.

There still is with the news media.

Romney appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" last week and Leno asked about his Mormon faith. Romney gave what has become his stock answer and even noted that President Kennedy, who was Catholic, helped break down barriers.

"Americans don't choose leaders based on what church they go to," Romney said. "They look to people who share the same values as them. I think America is ready for people of almost any faith to lead the country."

Identifying with Americans in a broad sense like that is a good approach, says Merle Black, co-author of recently published Divided America: The Ferocious Power Struggle in American Politics.

President "Reagan was good at emphasizing what he had in common with his audiences," Black says, and Romney needs to find that combination that will enlist support while also deflecting fear about his faith.

Still, Black says, Romney's religion is in play.

"You can't rule it out, because you have these national polls showing a negative reaction to Mormons," he says.

Various polls have shown that anywhere from 17 percent to 43 percent of Americans say they wouldn't vote for a Mormon for president. More detailed information, though, shows that many of those voters couldn't identify Romney as the Mormon in the field of GOP candidates.

At Regent, many seemed to know he was a Mormon. Few seemed to want that to be an issue.

Romney's campaign has been urged to address the former governor's faith in a speech reminiscent of President Kennedy's famous address that he, as a Catholic, would not be directed by the pope. But that wasn't the campaign's goal at Regent on Saturday.

"Eighty percent of those suggestions come from the news media, who is dying for it," says Romney spokesman Kevin Madden of the Kennedy-like speech. The campaign may address the faith question at some point in a major speech, he added, but talk of that is still in the "organic process."

For now, though, it appears Romney is focused on introducing himself as a man of faith - without mention of which faith.

He made no mention of Jesus Christ in his speech Saturday morning, but he did note that after the Virginia Tech shootings, "I opened my Bible." Evil has existed in the world since the "fall" of Adam and Eve, Romney said, but America has always faced evil and will continue the fight.

The audience nodded in agreement.

tburr@sltrib.com