Freedom from Religion and Freedom of Religion V

John Kennedy, First and Only Catholic
to serve as President of the United States

During the 1960 Presidential campaign, Democratic candidates John F. Kennedy—a Catholic—said in a famous talk to the Houston (Texas) Ministerium:

     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.

     Kennedy’s speech to the association of Protestant Ministers in 1960 is one of the landmark speeches in the history of American Church/State relationships and has stood as the defining statement of the relationship of religion and government in the American constitutional system.  In the context of the time it was meant to answer those who were afraid that a Catholic in the White House would have to take direction from his Church and it was meant to criticize those Protestant pastors who were cautioning their parishioners that a vote for Kennedy was a vote to end religious freedom in the United States.  At the time no Catholic saw a problem with this statement—indeed Catholics, clergy and laity alike, endorsed it as they saw the possibility of a Catholic being President for the first time.  As I said it has stood for fifty years as the canon of independence for politician and voter alike.  It has served as a bulwark to protect public officials from religious pressure so that they can fulfill their constitutional mandate.   That being said, I wonder how many Catholics—especially bishops and clergy—would agree with  it today?  Among the laity, Senator Santorum for one has gone on record as disagreeing.  He may be right and the Kennedy doctrine no longer stands.  He may be wrong.  But we do need to give the subject some thought.   

 

Why John Kennedy could not be elected president today

Today is the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of John F. Kennedy the first, and to date the only, Catholic to serve as President of the United States. It might be worthwhile considering Kennedy’s words in a famous speech given to 300 Protestant ministers in Dallas Texas on September 12, 1960—less than two months before his election. This speech was a milepost in the Kennedy rise to the presidency; he most likely would not have been elected without it. He himself knew its importance—he diverted his campaign tour from the West Coast to go Houston only to give this speech. In 1928 the only previous Catholic Candidate for the presidency had been defeated because of his religious affiliation. It is hard for us today to understand the strong bias against Catholics in American public life, but throughout the 19th and well into the 20th century many Americans were convinced that a Catholic politician would be no more than the advance guard for a papal takeover of the United States. Catholics were suspected of divided loyalties, or even worse, of owing their chief loyalty to their foreign based and foreigner-controlled Church. We can look at this more closely in some future postings. Today let’s look at Kennedy’s words:
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.
Kennedy’s words sufficed the lay aside the fear of the political ambitions of the Catholic Church of enough Americans that he was able to squeak by in the November elections. Interestingly from a historical perspective no Catholic voice raised any objections to his speech. But today, how would Catholics—including some of our bishops—react to the idea “no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act”? And what about a minor change in the subsequent sentence to say “and no Catholic preacher would tell his parishioners for whom to vote?” Something has changed in America. Something has changed in American Catholicism. And it probably isn’t a change for the better.