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News & ArtsMonday, February 27, 2012
Politics The Separation of Church and State Makes Rick Santorum Want to Throw Up
Posted by David Schmader on Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 11:12 AM
This weekend, Candidate Santorum explained to ABC's The Week how JFK's 1960 speech on the separation of church and state made him want to throw up.
Included in the video above is this remarkable collection of words:
“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country. This is the First Amendment. The First Amendment says the free exercise of religion. That means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square."
Of course one of the great rewards of the separation of church and state is the tax-exempt status extended to religious organizations. I agree with failed senator Santorum: The separation of church and state as it was once understood is outdated and should be revoked. Also, taxing churches could do wonders for our economy. Full speed ahead!
1
the JFK speech was brilliant and summarizes the intent of the first amendment as well as anyone has in a few of its paragraphs:
"So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again not what kind of church I believe in — for that should be important only to me — but what kind of America I believe in.
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.
I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all."
my favorite bit "for that should be important only to me" - have all the religion you please, just keep it to yourself (with respect to politics).
"So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again not what kind of church I believe in — for that should be important only to me — but what kind of America I believe in.
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.
I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all."
my favorite bit "for that should be important only to me" - have all the religion you please, just keep it to yourself (with respect to politics).
5
I miss the good old days where Catholics and Protestants were too busy fighting against each other to bother fighting against Atheists. That speech by JFK was incredible.
6
@5 Yeah, the fact that all those southern baptists are even THINKING of voting for a Mormon or Papist is fucking vexing.
7
"The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country."
As long as it's YOUR Catholic church, right?
You know what makes ME want to hurl? Rick Santorum thinking that he has any place in criticizing JFK.
As long as it's YOUR Catholic church, right?
You know what makes ME want to hurl? Rick Santorum thinking that he has any place in criticizing JFK.
10
@8- Often those are the most passionate kind of people. He's got faith, so he doesn't need knowledge.
12
Why do so many of these posts end with a call to tax churches? I have been a (liberal, progressive) church-goer all my life. I have been in many church leadership positions, and have many many friends that are leaders in their own congregations or are clergy. Every church I have ever been involved with has been barely able to make ends meet; no large endowments, no flashy buildings, no grossly overpaid pastors earning 6 or 7 figure salaries. Every town has it's mega-churches, and there are a lot of men and women on TV who seem to rake in a lot of bucks. But for every one of those hucksters there are THOUSANDS of small churches worshipping quietly and doing exactly what God intended when she said "Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God." My take is this, audit the hell out of the large churches, fine the hell out of them when you find something inappropriate. But please, leave us small fish out of your "throw the baby out with the bathwater" cry to tax churches. We make a huge impact in our communities in thbe way we serve outside our church walls and want to continue to do so.
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