Former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) is apparently staking his name and aspirations on the drive to undo 50 years of church-state separation. Specifically, he finds fault with John F. Kennedy's famous press conference in 1960, when he assured voters that his faith would not prevent him from putting the country's interests first. Santorum has argued in speeches recently that this affirmation of church-state separation is a mistake, a point he reiterated this week in strong language .
Rick Santorum told about 50 members of the group Catholic Citizenship that he was "frankly appalled" that America's first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, once said "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute."
"That was a radical statement," Santorum said, and did "great damage."
