There seems to be a small controversy brewing over something Rick Santorum said last October and reiterated on ABC’s This Week. One of the most objective journalists in the business, George Stephanopoulos, asked him about his statement concerning the speech John F. Kennedy gave in 1960, saying that the speech made him want to throw up. In that speech, JFK made it plain how he felt about people of faith using their faith to help them make the decisions they must make every day in their jobs with the government. Here is a portion of what he said, taken from The Washington Post.
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.
Here is what Rick Santorum said about that speech, when asked about it by that objective journalist, George Stephanopoulos. I borrowed this quote from The Other McCain.
“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” Santorum said. “The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.”
Even though I may disagree with some of what Santorum says about his faith, I happen to agree with him on this. For far too long, we have followed the precedent that someone who is a Christian, Catholic, or any other religion, and who is employed by the government, can not use their faith to help them make decisions in their job. To think that is even possible is ludicrous, in my opinion. Anyone who holds a strong faith in their religion is bound to consider that when they are making their decisions.
The belief that our faith can not be brought into our public lives is simply false. There is nothing in the Constitution, or its amendments, that prohibits that. The First Amendment rightly establishes the fact that the government can not prohibit the free exercise of religion, or establish laws that favor a particular religion, but it does not prohibit the President, members of Congress, or any other branch of our government, from using their faith to guide them in how them conduct themselves, both on the job and off.
I didn’t start writing this post with the intention of defending Rick Santorum, since I plan to vote for Ron Paul, but Santorum is right on this. Too many times, people of faith are told they have to check said faith at the door, but that is a false premise that needs to be stopped. I believe our country would be the better for it. That doesn’t mean I want a bunch of laws that reflect the different religious doctrines of this or that member of Congress, but neither does it mean that they should be prohibited from considering their faith when they are representing us in Washington. Just my humble and honest opinion.
