“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.” 
       Senator John Kennedy, 62 years ago this week. 

Senator Kennedy was running for president and his Catholicism was causing concerns among Protestant voters. They wondered if his allegiance was ultimately to the nation or to the Pope, should a direct conflict arise. In a speech to Protestant leaders in Houston, Senator Kennedy said what I wish every candidate for office would say about the separation of religion and government. He continued:

“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.” They just don’t write speeches like that anymore. 

He went on to say, “For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew-- or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist….Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you — until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.”

Unfortunately too many people do feel like they are the victim today, concluding that their beliefs are under attack because of laws that prohibit them from discriminating against people based on those beliefs. Senator Marco Rubio, a Catholic presidential candidate himself in 2016, has introduced a bill that would essentially codify the rights of faith-based institutions that administer federally funded social service programs to impose their beliefs on those coming to them for help. People who are often in no position to question the circumstances surrounding the help they need. 

Among the bill’s purposes, “To provide certainty for religious organizations that receipt of Federal financial assistance will not obstruct or hinder their ability to organize and operate in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs.” Another section says these organizations “may continue to carry out the organization's mission, including the definition, development, practice, and expression of its religious beliefs.” The bill also says religious organizations can go to court if they feel they were discriminated against by the government. 

You can read more about the innocuously named “Lifting Local Communities Act” at our Action Alert where you can also tell your Senators to oppose this harmful bill. President Kennedy would have been the first to do so.