Former Senator Santorum sick and tired of hearing JFK’s remarks (660 words)
As the American presidential nomination race continues to romp through our living room television sets, we learn more about the thought processes of the candidates.
Former Senator Rick Santorum, who wants to replace President Barack Obama, is “sick to my stomach” every time he is reminded of the 1960s remarks of then candidate John F. Kennedy to a bunch of Houston, Texas, pastors. JFK’s talk that day makes Rick Santorum want to throw up.
Strong language. Apparently what upset the former senator from Pennsylvania was this comment of JFK:
“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.”
Rick Santorum saw JFK’s words as implying that “people of faith have no role in the public square.” He told a crowd later: “ You bet that makes you throw up. What kind of country do we live that says only people of non-faith can come into the public square and make their case?"
Santorum: "I don't believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,"
Kennedy, the first Catholic president, was merely informing a group of Protestant ministers in order to put to rest concerns about his faith.
Candidate Santorum, who is also Catholic, said the Kennedy speech was part of an effort to begin to "force God out of the public square." KENNEDY DID NOT SAY THAT!!!
"To say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes you throw up. What kind of country do we live that says only people of non-faith can come into the public square and make their case?"
The issue of the church or the state having the final say in matters of religion began in England during the first half of the 1600s. King James of Scotland (the one the 1611 Bible is name for) and his son Charles II were brought to their demise due in large part to their demands to be “Head of the Church.”
Roger Williams, founder of Providence, Rhode Island, learned first-hand the unfortunate results when civil magistrates imposed their will in church affairs. That was the reason tens of thousands left England for the American colonies in the 1630s.
The magistrates of New England did not learn from history. Roger Williams, a learned graduate of Cambridge, knew the dangers of the Crown making decisions for the Church. This attitude of not conforming to civil authorities being the final “church authority,” got him expelled from Massachusetts. Conformity was central to John Winthrop’s city upon a hill. Its purpose was to advance God’s interests on earth. “Conformity was to be the perceived will of God.”
One plantation minister said: “endeavor after a Theocracy as might be to [that] which was the glory of Israel.” (Quoted in James Ernst’s “Roger Williams: New England Firebrand.”)
If not a theocracy, Massachusetts was theocentric. The week was filled with church services, including two on Sunday, each of which lasted roughly three hours. The Puritans passionate view of the Bible told them they were to build the New Jerusalem. “And those who controlled both church and state worked in unison to build that perfect society” (“Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State and the Birth of Liberty” by John M. Barry. A great new book, not just a biography.)
President Thomas Jefferson, 150 years later, read the many writings of Roger Williams stressing importance of a society having a strong wall separating Church and State.
If Rick Santorum became ill when hearing the words of John F. Kennedy on church and State, Roger Williams’ writings would have given him a stroke.
--30—
Britt Towery’s E-mail: bet@suddenlink.net
No comments:
Post a Comment