Written by Don Byrd
Presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s views on church-state separation, and on JFK’s famous speech on the topic to Houston’s Baptist ministers, is finally getting the scrutiny it deserves.
Salon’s Joan Walsh writes:
Of course, there’s no place in Kennedy’s speech where he said “people of faith are not allowed in the public square,” or anything close to that, and Santorum’s saying it three times doesn’t make it true.
The Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman said Santorum “misrepresented” JFK’s speech:
Kennedy spoke in his speech of religious institutions, not people, and said that the institutions should not “impose its will.” He did not reject a public role for the institutions and decried “acts against churches.”
The LATimes editorial board writes that Santorum should “read the speech again:”
Nowhere did Kennedy say that he wouldn’t listen to faith-based arguments or that he’d freeze church leaders out of the White House. What he said was that the president shouldn’t be beholden to the dictates of his denomination’s leaders. That’s fully consistent with the 1st Amendment, which not only assures the free exercise of religion but also bars Congress from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”
Even fellow GOP nominee Newt Gingrich thinks Santorum is wrong about the speech.
Yes, Kennedy said he believes in a separation of church and state that is “absolute,” a dramatic term to be sure. But he used the rest of the speech to explain what he meant by that. Then-candidate JFK’s assurance was compelling and profound, and a statement on the relationship between the institutions of church and state that still rings true today. Santorum’s critique is legitimate only by reading one of Kennedy’s sentences to the exclusion of all the others, and filling in the gaps with fear-mongering. I’m glad to see the original speech getting the attention and support it deserves.
