Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy’s major address to a group of Protestant ministers on the religious issue. Many Protestants questioned the ability of a Roman Catholic President to make important national decisions independently of the influence of his church. Senator Kennedy answers those questions before an audience of Protestant clergy, many of whom may believe that he can not.
Location: Rice Hotel, Houston, Texas
Date: September 12, 1960
Running time: 11:14 minutes. [also link to transcript]
I don't know what else you'd call it except pandering.
Full disclosure: I am Catholic.
At this point, we need a candidate who is clearly focused on stating the the most important problems facing our country, and explaining how he would go about solving them, not just whining about the other guys, or going off on sidebar topics.
Newt is the only guy constantly clearly stating the problems and how he would go about solving them.
I hope my fellow Alabamians do the right thing next Tuesday and vote for Newt.
I don't want religion in government any more than I want government in religion. Doesn’t he see that our argument over the government forcing the Catholic church to provide birth control is the argument FOR religious freedom?
Oh s**t Rick; give it a friggin’ rest. What is that gonna do to get gas prices down, Employment up and keep the U.S. and Israel from being attacked by Iran? Damn dude; we’re electing a President, not a Priest. Two Conservatives left: Rick and Newt. One with no moral failures but no common sense and one with past indiscretions but a helluva lot of common sense.
HANG IN THERE NEWT!!!
Rick Santorum: The Pat Robertson of the 21st Century.
(And we all know that Pat got real to occupying the White House. /sarc.)
One of the things I will talk about that no president has talked about before is I think the dangers of contraception in this country, the whole sexual libertine idea. Many in the Christian faith have said, 'Well, that’s okay. Contraception’s okay'. It’s not okay..."
It is difficult to understand how anyone could take Santorum seriously as a general election candidate.
Jim Young / Reuters - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum addresses supporters at his "Super Tuesday" primary election night rally in Steubenville, Ohio, March 6, 2012.
RE: Time Cover story: The Under-Told Story of How Santorum Became a Crusader for the Religious Right
It seems to me Saint Santorum is seeking the wrong position. He should move to Rome, and go for Pope.
I don’t recall a more sanctimonious pile ever running for POTUS. Next thing ya know, he’ll be speaking in tongues.
Most of the above commenters apparently do not understand the American concept of Christian Faith. A true Christian CANNOT separate his/her faith/belief structure from everyday activities even as a politician!
Either we have some dismal ignorance here about Christianity or some hyper partisans against Santorum
BTW most voters are not that ignorant about American religious belief —except the MSM and libtards!
Stupid.
Throw in a little bit of reality that Santorum lost his a$$ with the public on this issue, so he tries to revisit it, thinking he will change the outcome.
This idiot just needs to go away.......He has caused too much damage already and we are all stuck with results.
While I could happily vote for Gingrich, as well as for Santorum or Paul, I see that this thread is attracting some who are allowing the left to live rent rent-free in certain corners of their minds.
1. “Separation of church and state” is not part of the Constitution, and the meaning given this phrase today would have been abhorent to the Foundering Generation that ratified it and the generations of Americans that immediately succeeded them.
2. The phrase “separation of church and state” is actually Klan-speak for a KKK doctrine advocating suppressing Catholicism. (I, by the way, am not a Catholic)
3. The phrase “separation of church and state” was inserted into the Everson case in 1947 and was used thereafter to unconstitutionally suppress Christianity in this country. The SCOTUS judge who inserted the phrase in his opinion was Hugo Black, A KLANSMAN and a notorious anti-Catholic bigot.
4. As a purely nominal Catholic, it isn’t surprising that JFK was willing to embrace this doctrine at a time when, unlike today, people still knew what it meant. Nevertheless, it was wrong and harmful.
5. The left wins because it is epistemologically self-conscious, unlike the average conservative. As a result, the left asserts its metaphysical views, directly and indirectly, very forcefully. We, on the other hand, because we have been conditioned by the left’s media to flinch when someone on our side does the same thing, turn on conservatives who raise the issues that must be raised to ultimately overturn the left’s cultural hegemony. We also hand our children over to be indoctrinated by the left’s government schools and allow them to consume hours and hours of leftist media. We, too, consume large amounts of leftist media and make huge income transfers to the left through cable subscriptions and other purchases we make.
6. Santorum isn’t wrong to raise this issue. We are wrong for criticizing him for it. Perhaps the criticism reflects that many here think,like most of the WSJ editorial page writers, we can have a free economy and lots of stuff without worrying about all that “uptight, icky” moral stuff. This is not merely wrong, it is foolish.
7. Politics won’t save us. The leftist policies we complain about are a product of our failure to defend the Christian culture that the Constitution rested on. Leftist politicians are culture warriors, but we, in contrast, turn on our candidates who raise cultural issues in a serious way. Any political victory that is not also clearly a cultural victory is hollow. Both Bush presidencies illustrate that. Candidates who don’t even make a Bush-like pretense of raising cultural issues lose - but maybe we like our Doles and McCains.
8. The political discussion of candidates on FR this primary season has been the most childish I’ve ever seen. With the exception of Mittens, Huntsman, and Pawlenty, our candidates have been good to very good. But, instead of discussing relative strengths and weaknesses in a reasonable way, we have been stupidly tearing decent candidates apart.
9. Conservatives don’t deserve to be taken seriously, and won’t be, until we entirely delegitimize and shut down government schools and destroy the MSM by getting rid of our televisions and refusing to buy from sponsors of leftist (both cultural and political) programming.
The longer I read FR, the more convinced I am that Pogo was right.
Hey Jim and Tammy Fay Baker pulled it off for many years. As far as I am concerned, he is making Romney look better everyday to a lot of future voters. (I am Newt all the way, from Ohio and already voted). I am serious in asking this, has Santorum had a breakdown?