55 years ago conservatives feared a candidate might not respect the separation of church & state
My how times have changed.
On September 12, 1960 John Kennedy made a speech to a group of Protestant ministers in Houston, TX. There were a good many people who questioned whether or not a Catholic could or should be president. They feared he would not be able to keep his religion out of his decisions should he be elected president and would be apt to "take orders from the pope".
I would bet that the type of people who worried about JFK are same type who now think Kim Davis is a hero. Had she been around at the time, I have no doubt Kim Davis would have been afraid of Kennedy and his religion.
BTW, this is the speech Rick Santorum said made him want to throw up -- so you know it is worth reading.
A transcript is here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600
Or may watch the speech here:
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“…But because I am a Catholic, and no Catholic has ever been elected president, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured — perhaps deliberately, in some quarters less responsible than this. 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 a president whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation, or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office…
…I want a chief executive whose public acts are responsible to all groups and obligated to none; who can attend any ceremony, service or dinner his office may appropriately require of him; and whose fulfillment of his presidential oath is not limited or conditioned by any religious oath, ritual or obligation…
..But if the time should ever come — and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible — when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same.
= new reply since forum marked as read
It was just the wrong church.
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http://www.amazon.com/The-Making-Catholic-President-Kennedy/dp/0195374487
