From Kennedy to Romney: 47 Years of Judicial War Against American Freedom of Religion
On Sunday, I appeared on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" to comment on what I am calling a bureaucratic coup d'etat, that is the new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran released earlier this week. I'll give you my take on it in a minute, but first, I wanted to share with you that while I was getting ready to appear, it occurred to me that all the historical comparisons being made between presidential candidate Mitt Romney's speech last week and President John Kennedy's speech in 1960 are wrong in a fundamental way.
After my appearance, I listened to some of the program's political analysts criticize former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Romney for pointing out the current, judicially-driven effort to drive faith and God from America's public square -- something Kennedy didn't do.
The Kennedy-Romney comparisons are fundamentally false because President Kennedy spoke at a time when Americans had a fundamentally different understanding of faith in the public square. He gave his speech almost two years before the Supreme Court decision Engel v. Vitale outlawed school prayer in 1962.
After my appearance, I listened to some of the program's political analysts criticize former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Romney for pointing out the current, judicially-driven effort to drive faith and God from America's public square -- something Kennedy didn't do.
The Kennedy-Romney comparisons are fundamentally false because President Kennedy spoke at a time when Americans had a fundamentally different understanding of faith in the public square. He gave his speech almost two years before the Supreme Court decision Engel v. Vitale outlawed school prayer in 1962.
Kennedy spoke 11 years before the 1971 Supreme Court decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman, in which the court devised its most stringent standard of legal secularism.
Kennedy spoke 20 years before the 1980 Supreme Court decision in Stone v. Graham, which found that the state of Kentucky could not post copies of the 10 commandments in public school classrooms.
Kennedy spoke 32 years before the 1992 Supreme Court decision in Lee v. Weisman, which held that non-sectarian invocations and benedictions at public school graduation ceremonies were unconstitutional.
Kennedy spoke 40 years before the 2000 Supreme Court decision in Santa Fe School District v. Doe, in which the court found that brief, nonsectarian, student-led prayer before football games (which no one is forced to attend, and where no one is forced to pray) is unconstitutional.
In the forty-seven years since Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy delivered his historic speech, the courts have been increasingly hostile toward public religious expression and increasingly tolerant of anti-religious bigots and their agenda to remove all references to and acknowledgement of God from public life.
Kennedy spoke 20 years before the 1980 Supreme Court decision in Stone v. Graham, which found that the state of Kentucky could not post copies of the 10 commandments in public school classrooms.
Kennedy spoke 32 years before the 1992 Supreme Court decision in Lee v. Weisman, which held that non-sectarian invocations and benedictions at public school graduation ceremonies were unconstitutional.
Kennedy spoke 40 years before the 2000 Supreme Court decision in Santa Fe School District v. Doe, in which the court found that brief, nonsectarian, student-led prayer before football games (which no one is forced to attend, and where no one is forced to pray) is unconstitutional.
In the forty-seven years since Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy delivered his historic speech, the courts have been increasingly hostile toward public religious expression and increasingly tolerant of anti-religious bigots and their agenda to remove all references to and acknowledgement of God from public life.
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