50 years ago: Kennedy addresses Catholicism and the separation of Church and State

John F. Kennedy, the Democratic nominee for the presidential election of 1960, sought to defuse the “religion issue” in a speech delivered to a group of protestant religious leaders in Houston, Texas, on September 12. Kennedy would be the first and only Roman Catholic president in US history.

By emphasizing the separation of church and state, Kennedy spoke in terms that would become, decades later, beyond the pale in official US political discourse, where religiosity and every manner of personal identity emerged as primary subjects of media focus in elections.

“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” Kennedy said. “[W]here 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… where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials.

“I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as president, if I should be elected, on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject, I will make my decision in accordance with these views.”

Speaking the language of Cold War liberalism, Kennedy decried the injection of religion into politics as a distraction from “far more critical issues,” among which he placed in first position “the spread of Communist influence.” (WSWS)

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