In his most recent “My Take” column at CNN.com’s Belief Blog, R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary, suggests that GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s comments about former president John F. Kennedy were, despite ill-advised rhetoric, correct.
Recently, Santorum told ABC’s “This Week” that President Kennedy’s statement that American should be a place “where separation of church and state is absolute,” made him physically sick.
“I almost threw up,” Santorum said. “I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.”
Mohler comments: “Santorum should have avoided gastrointestinal references in his comments, and he clearly missed some of the careful nuances of Kennedy’s speech, but his criticism of Kennedy’s argument is both timely and essentially right. Furthermore, it is high time that Americans understand that the ideas Kennedy espoused in that speech have led us to an impasse in current debates.”
Mohler goes on briefly to assess Kennedy’s position and increasing secularization of American public political discourse.
He concludes: “We need to speak to one another with care, courtesy and full conviction. Massively difficult issues loom before us, but this nation is sufficiently mature so that we can have this conversation without losing our lunch.”
The entire article, “Santorum’s right, JFK wrong on separation of church and state,” is available at religion.blogs.cnn.com