POTUS: Pastor Of The US?
by Primo Encarnación y Hachecristo
Much is being made of the President’s speech laying out his foreign policy vision at American University, and a similar speech by President Kennedy, at the same venue. Both men excoriated those who disparage diplomacy by pointing out that the only other alternative is war. And I might add further that diplomacy is meaningless if it’s only engaged in with your friends. If that’s all we did, the State Department could just open a Facebook page and have Britain and Israel “like” our pictures of nukes and kittens.
But I think the discussion could profit by examining a piece of another JFK speech, one made in September, 1960, to a group of Protestant ministers in Houston, as he sought to become the first Roman Catholic President, addressing fears that his Administration would be directed by the Pope. (emphases mine)
I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no […] minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference […]
I believe in an America […] 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.
Finally, 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 attend the church of his choice;[…]
This is the caliber of discourse that true patriots hold. It makes the case that it doesn’t matter if the President is a Catholic, Protestant, Jew or (gasp!) Muslim, even. It makes the case that superstition should NEVER drive US policy. It makes the devastating case against Mike Huckabee, for whom, apparently, the “P” in “POTUS” means “pastor.”
How can anyone listen to the soaring, lyrical rhetoric of a Kennedy, or an Obama, and then vote for a Huckabee, or a Trump, or a Cruz? Whither the grandeur of the Presidency, gracefully riding the scend of history, in a smarmy dogwhistle symphony called “Machine Gun Bacon?”
I believe in the America of the Enlightenment. Rage, RAGE against the dying of the light!
Well said.
1The real problem we have is the “Team America” mindset in so many voters. Unfazed by our experiences in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, they have the media-infused idea that the USA, being the “only remaining superpower” can impose its will unilaterally on the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, when President Trump calls Vladimir Putin and yells “You’re Fired”, it’s likely to work about as well as the Trump Casino in Atlantic City. Life isn’t pro wrestling, or unreality TV.
2This may be off topic but worth relating, I think. There’s a store in my town, Fredericksburg TX, called “Texas Jacks.” (No apostrophe in their sign to make it possessive, but what do you expect?) It’s a wild West store that sells western wear, plus guns and knives. The store is across the street from the main park where I walk my dog every day. Often they would have the U.S. flag and the Texas flag flying out in front. Then recently the Confederate battle flag appeared beside the other two. Never saw one there before, ever, but of course it would turn up now because “freedom.” It really griped my you-know-what to see it.
Then, just as suddenly, in the space of a week it was gone! I’m sure someone in our Chamber of Commerce or other city entity took them aside and told them it was not such a great idea since our town relies heavily on the tourist trade. The town is an overwhelmingly Republican and NRA stronghold but I guess when you get down to it, money talks. But I will accept any victory like this, however small.
3Yeah.
4Amen.
5I’m old enough to remember the Kennedy era and when being a Republican meant being like Ike, not Ted or Louie.
We are in a political Dark Ages and have been since the Southern Strategy and Reaganism began. All we need to complete the picture is the Black Plague and I think that’s coming in the form of climate change.
I’m going to go eat chocolate and look at kitten videos now.
6Thank you…thank you…a hundred times!
7Has the inntellectual fiber of country really descended to machine guns and bacon over Presidential rhetoric? This is where anti-intellectualism and lack of support for public education have brought us.
Thanks, we needed that reminder of a more rational discourse!
8Before President Kennedy made that speech, Catholics knew The Vatican would have no say in American politics. The fact he had to assuage the WASPs was insulting, but we accepted it because we, as Americans, were taught to be respectful of others.
Sadly, today’s evangelical Christians still don’t accept Catholics as Christians nor do they respect the differences of others. Indeed, the far right wants a Pastor in Chief so they can install their own personal belief system in America.
Just like they accused our only Catholic President of wanting to do.
The irony is thick. The hypocrisy, thicker.
9What Lorraine said, times 100.
10The big concern of the WASP preachers was that their ability to force their own beliefs on others would be replaced with somebody else’s religion. I can still recall when school prayer was legal – but only the Protestant versions. When I repeated the Catholic version, the teacher told me I was “saying it wrong.” Very confusing for a young child.
Funny how evangelicals think that religious freedom means that they’re free to use the force of government to deny people the right to practice other religions
11“It makes the case that it doesn’t matter if the President is a Catholic, Protestant, Jew or (gasp!) Muslim, even.”
You left out Atheists, Primo. Otherwise, a perfect post.
12DonnaAnglin asks: has the intellectual fiber of country really descended to machine guns and bacon over Presidential rhetoric?
Answer: not completely, but we’re getting there.
50% of Americans don’t give a crap, 27% of Americans are batshit crazy (and they have a huge megaphone with FOX, talk radio, Koch $$$$, etc) leaving you and I among the 23% of engaged Americans that are operating with a full deck. http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Crazification_factor
Pretty freakin’ scary if you ask me…
13It wouldn’t hurt if they were to read the actual Constitution, as well. Particularly the part where it says that religion is NOT to be considered on the ballot when voting.
Makes me so mad when they pick and chose which parts they want to abide by. It’s NOT the bible, you guys.
14Why do so many people ‘forget’ that the religious who came to settle America came here to escape religious persecution in the form of Christian State Religions. The settlers weren’t christian enough or in the state approved way.
15A friendly reminder that wingnuts were afraid Obama,the Muslim,would rule as a Muslim and force Sharia Law on all.
16@e platypus onion-the question I keep coming back to is this: how are the various anti-choice and anti-gay marriage laws anything other than the imposition of a form of Christian Sharia?
17Well said.
18You read my mind this morning; I was just thinking along the same lines. Why is every GOP including religion (of their personal choice not including the other thousands…) in to their ‘if I am President’. Besides taking us back both in women’s health and voters rights, not one of them is keeping politics separate from religion.
They pick and choose parts of the Constitution just as they pick and choose parts of the Bible and tear out big sections they don’t like. (One of my favorites is Matthew 6:5-6, where Jesus tells them to pray privately at home, not out in public to show everyone how religious they are. They tore that out and stomped it flat.)
Yes, the Pilgrims came to America so they could worship their way — and not have their kids grow up Dutch, because the Dutch were perfectly happy to let them worship their own way. But as soon as they got here they declared that their way was THE way, and drove anyone who disagreed out of the community, to die for all they cared. Sounds kinda familiar.
It was nice, as an atheist, to finally get a mention a few times from President Obama. You can’t be a GOP candidate unless you want people like me burned at the stake, or at least shown that we are sorry, miserable, second-class just-barely-citizens. They didn’t get that from the Constitution.
Jefferson said he didn’t care if his neighbor worshiped no god or twenty gods; “it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” Go, Tom!
19TexasTrailerParkTrash says:
August 6, 2015 at 9:06 am
Have they forgotten that many of the original German settlers of Central Texas were Freethinkers, many of whom opposed slavery (and the Confederacy). Some from Comfort were even killed in a Confederate massacre (and many others elsewhere).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought#United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-Eighters#United_States
” Galveston, Texas was a port of entry to many Forty-Eighters. Some settled there and in Houston, but many settled in the Texas Hill Country in the vicinity of Fredericksburg. Due to their liberal ideals, they strongly opposed Texas’s secession in 1861. In the Bellville area of Austin County, another destination for Forty-Eighters, the German precincts voted decisively against the secession ordinance.[3]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Hill_Country
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredericksburg,_Texas
It was only a few years ago that I was used to hearing German spoken in one of my fav places, New Braunfels (my mom’s family spoke it, the older ones anyway).
20Primo’s post speaks to the lack of training in critical thinking in our school systems. When the wingnuts can jump on TV, radio and the internet to make the most outrageous unsupported claims which appeal to those who can’t or won’t think things through, who swallow this sludge whole and repeat it as if it was gospel, what chance does an educated, factual and logical approach have. The Ugly American is alive and living right here.
21The Republican Party appeals to the knee-jerk, emotionally immature and ignorant lowest common denominator. Case in point-the lineup of the usual Republican primary suspects.
Soaring, lyrical rhetoric is akin to casting pearls before swine if one is addressing the run of the mill Tea Partier Republican. I am aware that it is not patriotic, or liberal, or inclusive, but frankly I have lost patience – and respect – for the people who drool over the likes of the current crop of republican hopefuls.
22Excellent post. I wish you would make it the first post daily.
23Say what you will but them dumb myth-believing sonsabitches show up to vote. We can be all smart and high and mighty but until we (yeah I’m guilty too) get OUR flock to show up at the polls, we’re just pissing south on a Panhandle summer afternoon. Good point though. RFK is about the only D with any kind of historical respect among my conservative friends. Cuba, perhaps?
24Thank you for an excellent post, and thank you to all the clients of the Salon. Critical thinking certainly isn’t dead, of course, but among the far right, it seems to be taking its last gasps.
25Right on the money,capitol dave. Forcing religion down people’s throats IOKIYAR.
26They called Jefferson an atheist since he didn’t want to be Pastor in Chief and had little use for the clergy anyway.
@TexasTrailerParkTrash, the same thing happened at Cavender’s (Western Wear) in Killeen. Suddenly an outbreak of sentimentality for the Battle Flag, which they posted along side the Texas flag on Hwy 190, only a few miles from the U.S. Army base at Ft. Hood. These people gall the crap outta me. And I’ll never shop Cavender’s again. Ever, so help me Huckabee.
27Just visited Mr. Jefferson’s place on his little mountain a few weeks ago. The view lets one see for miles. Frankly I think it matched his vision for this country. He was big on religious freedom as in his youth the Anglican church still had the “right” to burn people at the stake for what they were thinking let alone doing. Furthermore, this bunch automatically considered themselves the official church of the colonies. So it wasn’t just Virginia that would smell all the smoke. I can only imagine what Old Tom would think about these Xians running amok today.
28Maggie, here are a few words from the Founding Fathers:
“If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.”
– George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia (1789)
“Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.”
– Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)
“During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.”
29– James Madison, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1785)
I think that one reason the Common Core is reviled is that the standards require critical thinking, and individual responses. Not good if you want lock step thinkers.
I have been in an email battle with a relative about what the CC math standards require. (It’s very instructive to “google” them and actually read them). There was much argle bargle about the mysteries of math in the CC. If you do read them, it doesn’t say anything about how to teach, just some outcomes that wouldn’t be controversial if the White House’s occupants weren’t, you know, Kenyan socialist, foreign (hint, not white). Until we have a smidge of critical thinking taking place, we are in huge trouble. The Donald is just the latest embodiment of this. They broke it, they bought it.
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