At historic Rhode Island synagogue, Kaine reflects on religious freedom

“Today, we’re facing a presidential candidate who has no conception of religious liberty – or civil liberty for that matter.”

By MICHAEL WILNER 08/18/2016 04:03

WASHINGTON - Democratic vicee presidential nominee Tim Kaine visited a synagogue last week made famous by the nation’s first president, George Washington, who reflected there on the importance of religious freedom 226 years ago.

At Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island, Kaine reflected on the ongoing struggle to maintain such freedoms amid debate within the US presidential campaign over the rights and dignity of Muslim-American citizens.

“We stumbled on the Touro Synagogue,” reads a post on Kaine’s Facebook page. “Today, we’re facing a presidential candidate who has no conception of religious liberty – or civil liberty for that matter.”

His attack on Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, comes just days after the GOP candidate renewed his call for an “ideology test” for new immigrants to the United States. Trump did not specify what the test would include, but he said the new screening effort would attempt to weed out immigrant and refugee applicants with sympathies toward “radical Islam” and who express “hostility” toward the US and its “principles.”

http://www.jpost.com/US-Elections/Donald-Trump/At-historic-Rhode-Island-synagogue-Kaine-reflects-on-religious-freedom-464389