Rick Santorum is sponsoring a car in the Daytona 500. That is awesome! He gave the driver this advice – “I talked to him about a strategy. I recommended he stay back in the pack, you know, hang back there until the right time, and then bolt to the front when it really counts,” Santorum said. “I’m hoping that for the first, you know, maybe 300, 400 miles, he’s sitting way, way back, letting all the other folks crash and burn, and then sneak up at the end and win this thing.”
Pic H/T ABC
Rick Santorum defended comments he made last year in which he was critical of President John F. Kennedy’s speech on religion’s place in politics. Santorum said “Earlier in my political career I had opportunity to read the speech, and I almost threw up.” He was specifically talking about this line in JFK’s speech – “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.”
From Boston.com: “I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” Santorum said today on ABC’s “This Week.’’ “The idea that the church should have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical of the objectives and vision of our country.”
Santorum said he understood the speech as being opposed to the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which bans government from making laws regarding religion or limiting its practice. “That means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square,” Santorum said. “Kennedy for the first time articulated a vision saying ‘no, faith is not allowed in the public square. I will keep it separate.’”
Santorum said his point was how important it is for everybody – including those of faith – to feel welcome in politics. “To say that people of faith have no role in the public square, you bet that makes you throw up,” Santorum said. “What kind of country do we live in that says only people of non-faith can come in the public square and make their case?”
Some people tend to misinterpret the “separation of Church and State”. This means that there is to be no State-sponsored religion and citizens have the right to believe in whatever religion or no religion at all. The State is forbidden from persecuting its citizens. Citizens have a right to Freedom of Religion under the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Father Dwight Longenecker posed the question “What is a Santorum Catholic?” Father Longenecker is a Catholic convert who grew up as an Evangelical Protestant. They were prejudiced against Catholics and Joe Kennedy’s philandering helped to reinforce these prejudices. Here is the article:
As Rick Santorum surges in popularity people may be scratching their heads about his Catholic faith. The American public are used to Catholic politicians, but not this kind of Catholic politician.
I grew up as an Evangelical Protestant. We were prejudiced against Catholics. In our mind, Catholics were Democrats–and that was not good. We knew many of the blue collar folks were Catholics, but Catholics were also fat cats.
The Kennedys were Catholics and we had no respect for old Joe Kennedy who made his money as a bootlegger, nor for his philandering sons with their assumed air of American royalty. The Catholics we knew did not help to correct our prejudices. In our Puritanical Protestantism we didn’t smoke or drink or play cards or gamble or go to the movies. The Catholics did all that bad stuff.
I know now that my prejudices were just that. Among the worldly and sinful Catholics were many good and holy Christians. Likewise, among us Puritanical Protestants it turned out that there were many fallen and hypocritical Christians. That is really not the issue here. What my Protestant prejudices reveal is what Protestants in America have long thought about Catholics.
Protestant Evangelicals combined their theological disagreements with Catholicism with the bad example of Catholics in public life. Every time a Kennedy misbehaved the Protestants sneered and had their suspicions confirmed.
Whenever Catholic politicians like Pelosi and Biden and Kerry stood against their own church in public, the Protestants pointed fingers. When the Catholic bishops did nothing to discipline the wayward politicians Protestants raised a knowing eyebrow saying, “That figures.” CONTINUED
Father Longenecker hit the nail on the head!
Catholibertarian 