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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 a 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 where religious intolerance will someday
end—where all men and all churches are treated as
equal—where every man has the same right to attend or not to
attend the church of his choice—where there is no Catholic vote,
no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind—and where
Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and the pastoral
levels, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division
which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote
instead the American ideal of brotherhood.
		-- John F. Kennedy
		   September 12, 1960, address to the Greater Houston
		   Ministerial Association
		   http://www.jfklibrary.org/j091260.htm

Tags: religion attitudes churches jews brotherhood johnfkennedy disdain parishioners separationofchurchandstate religiousintolerance protestantminister blocvoting americanideal ministerialassociation catholicvote jfklibrary politicalpreference catholicprelate catholicsprotestants