Many of you think I am completely informed on current events. I am ashamed to admit, I missed Mitt Romney's speech on religion. Partly due to my distaste for his attitude, which strikes me as insincere,partly because I still have to get my mind around this whole complicated concept of how to express one's faith when one is a presidential candidate. Why worry so much, I'll never be a candidate? I don't know, I just like to have these things resolved in my mind, and I hate to admit that a sincere Catholic can't be president, but a sneaking suspicion tells me this may be true, at least nowadays.
So, while I write my nomination acceptance speech, read this column by Colleen Carroll Campbell, on the subject;
"John F. Kennedy's speech on how his Catholic faith wouldn't influence his presidency.Kennedy said a President's religious views are "his own private affair" and reminded the crowd that he was not the Catholic candidate for President, but the Democratic candidate who happened to be Catholic. He explained the relationship between his faith and his political decisions this way:
'I do not speak for my Church on public matters – and the Church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as President – on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling, or any other subject – I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise.'"
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