Just days before Joe Biden takes the oath of office to become the next President of the United States, I want to share some words with the only other practicing Roman Catholic to have served in that office, John F Kennedy. During last fall's election, there were those who feared Biden would impose directives from the religion he practices. There were similar fears when Kennedy came into office.
At the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, Kennedy made these remarks on September 12, 1960. It was two months later that he was elected.
"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 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."
(Not that you asked, but) I believe in the same America.
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