A BIT OF HISTORY
“A
nation’s character, like that of an individual, is elusive,” Congressional candidate John F. Kennedy [DMA] said on July 4, 1946. “It is produced partly by the things we have done and partly by what has been done to us… It is well for us to consider our American character, for in peace, as in war, we will survive or fail according to its measure.” “The informing spirit of the American character has always been a deep religious sense,” Kennedy continued. “Our government was founded on the essential religious idea of integrity of the individual. It was this religious sense which inspired the authors of the Declaration of Independence.” “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” “Today [America’s] religious ideas are challenged by atheism and materialism,” Kennedy then concluded. “Inspired by a deeply religious sense, this country…has always met and hurled back the challenge of those deathly philosophies of hate and despair.” “Whilst we assign ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess and to observe the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which convinced us,” James Madison wrote in his 1785 Memorial and
Old Town Crier
©2020 SARAH BECKER
Separation of
Church and State Remonstrance. According to a 2007 Pew Research Study “fully one in four adults under 30 (25%)…describe their religion as atheist, agnostic or ‘nothing in particular.’” The Bill of Rights, Amendment 1, as ratified in 1791: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” Alexandria’s St. Mary’s Catholic Church was first suggested on St. Patrick’s Day 1788, “a little brick one, built in 1793 on South Washington Street and what was later known as Church Street.” “The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations,” President George Washington said in his 1796 Farewell Address. “With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits and political principles.” “To the efficacy and permanency of your Union a government of the whole is indispensable,” Washington continued. “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable supports.” President James Madison [VA-DR], father of the 1791 Bill of Rights, tried hard “to avoid the slightest interference with the right of conscience or the functions of religion, so wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction.” “Notwithstanding the general progress made within the last two centuries in favor of this branch of liberty…. there remains…a strong bias towards the old error, that without some sort of alliance or coalition between Government & Religion, neither can be duly supported,” Madison wrote in 1822. “Such indeed is the tendency to such a Coalition, and such its corrupting influence on both the parties, that the danger can not be too carefully guarded against,” Madison continued. “And in a Government of opinion, like ours, the only effectual guard must be found in the soundness & stability of the general opinion…Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical & Civil matters is of importance…I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that Religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are
mixed together.” “If a further confirmation of the truth could be wanted, it is to be found in the examples furnished by the States which have abolished their religious Establishments,” Madison concluded. “We are teaching the World the great truth. Governments do better without Kings & Nobles [and] The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that Religion flourishes in greater purity, without the aid of the Government.” On October 3rd The Economist asked: “Can a Catholic vote for Joe Biden and avoid damnation?...America’s political polarization is reflected in the leadership of the Catholic church, which constitutes the country’s biggest single religious voting group. But the nomination of a Catholic as the Democratic [presidential] candidate has accelerated the process. Although the church says clergy should not tell the faithful how they should or should not vote—such activity also imperils churches exemption from certain taxes— several prominent priests have castigated Mr. Biden, claiming his pro-choice position on abortion means he is not Catholic.” John F. Kennedy, the nation’s 35th President, was
also Catholic. “Because I am a Catholic and no Catholic has ever been elected President, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured—perhaps deliberately,” candidate Kennedy said in 1960. “Apparently it is 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,” Kennedy explained. “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,” Kennedy continued. “For while this year it may A BIT OF HISTORY > PAGE 10
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