(CNN) - As he contemplates a run for president, Rick Santorum has decided to take on the premise of one of President John F. Kennedy's most famous speeches.
The former Pennsylvania senator, who lost his reelection bid in 2006 and has expressed interest in running for the White House, will deliver a speech in Houston, Texas next week titled "A Charge to Revive the Role of Faith in the Public Square."
The speech, to be delivered at the University of St. Thomas, is being billed as a challenge to the speech Kennedy delivered in Houston 50 years ago, during which the then-senator and presidential candidate famously addressed concerns about his Catholicism.
In the now-historic speech in which he sought to quell concerns the dictates of his religion would influence his decision making, Kennedy articulated a view of complete separation of church and state.
"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 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," said Kennedy then.
Among other destinations, Santorum's recent travel has taken him to Iowa and New Hampshire – the two states that kick off the presidential nominating process.
From CNN Politics
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This pipsqueak couldn't shine John Kennedy's shoes!
....and the Republican wrestling with history from 40/50/100/200 years ago continues. So Santorum thinks that the US should be a theocracy? Wonderful. We're not that far from being just like all those countries we have been knocking heads with for the last 10 years or so: religion-run. But i guess our gods are 'better', huh?
So, is Santorum the loser now overthrowing freedom of religion (or no religion)...where do these freaks get off....all they are doing is weakening the credibility of the US...we are supposedly helping restore democracy in other countries. When these countries look at us, they see total chaos and us falling apart because so many in our country can't handle democracy...they want to be able to create a police state where we all think, act, and believe the same beliefs. God help us as these people who proclaim to know what's best set out to destroy our great country.
Santorum is a freak with about with the same chance of being POTUS as my cat. He was run out of PA (a relatively conservative state) because of his fringe views and he wants to be president.....LOL
Kennedy was one of our great presidents – a man of vision. In that speech, he articulated one of the core principles that allowed us to build a nation of self-government with freedom expression.
Now some second-rate Republican wants to come along and tear it all down? I guess Santorum wants an America based on theocracy. If he and the rest of his right-wing buddies get that, then no one who disagrees with their particular brand of religion will be safe from the suzerainty of the preachers pulling the strings of those in power. We will be no better than the muslim theocracies that these same people decry – we'll just be a different brand.
What, are the Republicans going to go through all the Great Speeches and "redo" them to conservative tastes?
What next – Sermon on the Mount? Gettysburg Address?
I happen to like Separation of Church and State. I don't want anyone's particular belief's foisted on me. I have my way, you have your way, and that's final.
Leave Me Alone.
Line 'em up and the farther right the better.
First Glenn Beck spits on King's speech and now Santorum seeks to do the same to Kennedy's speech. And they claim they are not a hate group yet their actions paint a different picture. Mr. Santorum needs to remember his commandments, especially the one that syas "Love thy neighbor are you would love yourself." There are republicans who are trying to rewrite the history books and the bible's interpretations and they will probably try to rewrite the ten commandments as well.
We the majority of Americans do not want your Faith or Church in our Politics.....I am a Faithful Christian, but I have my Faith and my church and don't need yours or anyones elses in our Government.......where do you Republicans get off accussing the rest of us as not being Faithful followers of Christ......some of us like to keep it private .....Government is not the place for Religion.....there are to many religions in this country and everyone has the right to their own religion and not have just the far right conservative religion pushed off on the rest of us
Perhaps Santorum needs a little refresher on the Constitution. I'm sure he can find someone to help him with the big words...
People should be really concerned about the Republican push to have religion and religious beliefs inserted into our government. Separation of Churcha and State is what keeps us free from religious fanatics. If, we are not careful, we will find ourselves at the mercy of people like Pat Robertson, Jim Baker, Jerry Falwell, David Curesh, Jim Jones, and any number of so called religious men. I have found them all to be hypocrites who want people to do as they say and not as they do; and to whom money and personal power are the real "god". We could end up just like Iran, Afganistan, and the other countries we despise; because religious extremists are the law and enforce their will on the public.
Pennsylvania kicked Ricky out because of his far right, hateful views. Now he's going after a respected Pres.'s speech? This guy shouldn't be in public life...say no to Rick!!!
Yes, just what the country needs–Ayatollah Santorum.
With jerks like Santorum and ideas like this, we're definitely headed for a theocracy. Incredible.
Words cannot diecribe how betrayed I feel by the catholic church. i remember vividly Kennedy running and all the vile things said about him. It reminds me of Obamma has had to deal with. all the jokes etc. Then I jump ahead to 2000 the last time I was at Mass listening to a totaly political sermon in which a Capuchin priest laid waste to JFK as a devil, amorral and just an all around bad person family and all. I remembered my grand mother Irish and proud when he was elected. I simply got up and left and will never go back. I don't beleive for one moment that JFK was the sinister mind of moral decay in America at all. i will never return to that or anyother socalled christian church. Little did I realize back then that republican member ship was a litmus for being a Catholic – nothing to do with god but all power and money. Yeah I gues calvanist in heresey. When I see this kind of crap it just shows how low some people can go. Here's idea stupid do something original as you make me puke! my beleif inthe trinity and communion of saints is beyond politics and bad speak. people wanting this nation to be their socalled christian brand with revisionist history reallyu need to look at place like Iran and Saudi Arabia you are just as radical.
challenge JFK speech???????...sorry, but this guy is mentally challenged.......as for a run as president......he should team up with the boner and keep on being good janitors because that is as far as their brains can perform, no insult to the janitors.......
So he is going to advocate for elected officials to be under the direct control of their religious leaders?
That would sort of make democracy irrelevant, wouldn't it?
Watch out. The Founders' intent was clear, Madison's especially, but Santorum, Huckabee, Palin, and Mister "god sandbagged me" Beck are panting to steer this country toward theocracy and diminish the influence of the highly educated. The English translation of "madrassa" is "charter school."
Do people also realize that in this country there is Separation of Mosque and State as well. And Synagogue and State. as well as Church and State? Tear down this concept and you open up a can of worms that would be the end of this country. Where religion enters the public arena you have countries who've been at war for decades. Please, we must have Separation of Any and all Religions and State. Its the only way to have any chance at peace.
Why can liberals never deal in substance? Is it any wonder why they have lost the public debate? The people will only listen to a liberal act like a 4 year for so long before they realize that the liberal has no intellectual umph behind his worldview.
At least he leaders in Iran will agree with him.
santorum is about as against American values as you can get. that is why he lost by 19% to an unknown who did not even bother to actively campaign. Our latest republicon senatorial hopeful from the tea bag crowd makes santrum actully look sane and reasonable - pat toomey is a disgrace to the nation without actually holding office (he is just raking in millions in sleazy business deals)
Kennedy was dead right. The reason he made the speech was to remind anti-Catholic bigots that in America we have enshrined in the Constitution a seperation of chruch and state, and that in our public capacity we represent the nation, not some particular faith or religious system. santorum is a tool, and to borrow a phrase from the 1988 eection "you sir, are no Jack Kennedy!"
All you need to know about this guy....just google his name. "that frothy mixture...."
Please stop trying to re-write our Constitution! The Pigs on the right just won't leave it alone. The constitution gaurantees me the right to NOT be a part of any religious group or even be a raging christian standing on the street corner telling everyone that the end is near. Funny that these monsters on the right want to be such "strict Constitutionalists" yet re-write it to get into my private life.
As a cradle to grave Catholic, I do not want a Papist as President.
Hes nothing but a bagboy for the Koch Industries,boycott them now.
CNN, where is your headline that illegal immigration is down 67%??
That is ignored while we get a headline about an unknown loser.
Wow, you are quite the news worthy station.
Why on earth can't this loser shut up and just go far, far away. He might finally stop talking if the media would stop reporting every little thing he does as if it were news. It's NOT!!!
Just another reason to be embarrassed by a fellow Penn State alum's behavior.
I dream of a day where there are no Christians, Muslims, or Jews in any branch of our government. The world would be a much better place!
What the Fascists fear most of all is intelligence.
Stay stupid America, they love you that way...
There needs to be some level of understanding where religious leaders recognize that they have limits of contributions to the legal and political debate. We can't have religious leaders telling us where to go all the time. They can give moral council, but there are too many different religions and eithical backgrounds to have one for the country to follow.
Santorum wants to dissolve the wall between church and state? It's nice that he comes out and says that in a public forum. Now I know who to fight against. How is it that we are gravitating closer and closer, not to fascism or communism, but to mob rule with each passing day and no one seems to care? In fact, the loudest, most obnoxious voices in America relish the thought. This is not the America I grew up in and not the America I want for my children.
why is it everytime the repubs say something positive.the go to demacrat party for quotes.oh i forgot just say no is their platform.RICK SANTOUTM.YOU WOULD NOT MAKE A PIMPLE.ON KENNEDYS BEHIND.
if john f kennedy was alive he would note vote for yo right wing as
What a frothy mixture!
Santorum couldn't challenge anything from Kennedy....this is a joke
Santorum is a cockroach.
Was Santorum even alive when the speech was made? Knowing what society was like then would be helpful, but not Santorum. This guy has the intellect of GW Bush – zero.
I'm confused about what his point will be – that there should not be a separation between church and state? If conservatives do not want such a wall, why all the concern as to Obama's religion?
LMAO!! Oh My GOD!! He's gonna "challenge" a speech made by a man whose been dead for 40+ years?!?!?!
The funny part in this is no matter how many "challenges" this idiot takes, he will lose to the dead man EVERY time. JFK was right then and is still right now. You can kiss that house goodbye after "challenging" the words of a President that has garnered overwhelming respect from the American people,
Funny how these people who claim to be "Constitutionalists" have absolutely no understanding of the Constitution.
@Jeff Brown- Couldn't have said it better myself.
What would these right wing whack jobs do if they actually had to work for a living?
Santorum, Beck and like-minded "religious" conservatives seek to bring back the good old days of Tricky Dick's Moral Majority. The problem is that they were, and are, neither moral nor a majority. They want to impose their views on a majority of Americans, and by doing so negate one of the basic tenets of the Constitution which they famously flaunt in our faces when it pertains, so they believe, to gun rights and their anti-abortion messages. But, like the 14th Amendment, given the control of Congress they so desperately seek again, they will attempt by any means possible to amend the Constitution. They now have so-called non-profit charter schools which they want to give federal funding under the guise of improved education. They denounce Muslims, many of them American citizens like themselves. They decry immigration, even though that's what built this country. People like Santorum, Gingrich et al want to bring back Jim Crow and turn him into an all-encompassing Crow: Ahmed Crow, Felipe Crow, Wan Crow, and any other non-white, non-pure American that thinks like they do. First they have a President appointed by the Supreme Court because the justices refused to count all the votes. Then that same President, with Santorum licking his shoes, enters a war that has now cost America almost $800 billion. Then they overspend so much that they drive the economy almost into a Depression, after the previous Administration left a sizable surplus in the Treasury. Then they have the boldness to state that the Democrats are overspending. Just like Rick Perry and his Texas hooligans refuse to acknowledge that they executed an innocent citizen, just like they are attempting to revise history with their new textbooks, just like Santorum is attempting to negate JFK and bring religion back to our front lawns, just like Beck speaks about faith where King spoke about brothers and sisters. Rick, next time you talk personally to God, you let me know. There's a reason no one ever saw him, or her, or it. It isn't there, it's just a matter of "faith" which ancients used to prevent fear and going stark-raving mad. It isn't there, never was, never will be, and certainly doesn't belong in any way, shape, or form in a conversation about politics. There's no separation of powers in the Constitution when it comes to religion. It doesn't belong in the conversation.
Jeff Brown–you are 100% right. I wonder if Rick's speech will include another reference to homosexuals being similar to those who practice beastiality?
The "Holy-of-Holies" will have to come down from the Cross to give his speech. Now that I have to see.
OMIGOD!!!! What is with these right wing ideologs? I'm a Christian but I STRONGLY support separation of church and state. If people know anything about our history (and apparently most never learned it or have forgotten it), this separation was paramount to the founding fathers. All were God-fearing, Christian men, but they believed strongly in their right to worship as they saw fit. Many of them left England to get away from a 'state-run' religion. Learn your history, people!!! Protect the right of religion but do not institutionalize it!
Santorum can tuck his religion back where he pulled it out of.
Hey Rick,
. The USA does not want you. What type of an idiot loses his senatorial reelection bid by 18% and thinks he could be elected president.
Knock Knock Puddinghead
oh and do a search of santorum
Totally agree with you, Jeff Brown! I would go one step further even and say that "this pipsqueak" doesn't deserve to even have his name said in the same sentence as President John Kennedy!
Rick Santorum: American Taliban
Republicans would accomplish more, if they could show a just little RESPECT and civility. Being arrogant, obnoxious and disrespectful is counter-productive to America.
"Mr. Republican, tear down this arrogance."
So, he wants to challenge the seperation of church and state? AWESOME. Another slam-dunk if he decides to run for the presidency.
Seriously, Republican's, I'm not very impressed with the same has-been's you've been tossing around for contenders to the presidential seat. If you keep pushing the likes of Palin, Gingrich, Santorum and the like – you are going to give us dems one very easy win!!
Any candidate who promises to never use their faith in the decision making process is a hypocrite and should be seen as such. This is why John Kerry and Al Gore lost. Neither election was stolen. Rather, the swing votes they were trying to smoke-screen with religious terminology saw through it and rejected them.
He has no chance of getting the nomination and is only doing this to stir up the "religious right" (or religious wrong as the case may be) to become more active in this election cycle. Same tactic as Glenn Beck. The idea is to get the same sheep who voted for GWB twice to hand the power back to the same Neocon criminals who got us in trouble in the first place.
Kennedy was a leader. Santorum is trash.
Please, please run. You're such a tool that it will just mean more Republican dollars wasted.
I haer the voice of Lloyd Bentson floating back over the ages... pulling another Wannabe back to reality: "I knew Jack Kennedy. He was a friend of mine. And you Sir, are NO Jack Kennedy!"
But if Santorum thinks it will work for him, then let him re-hash the failed and embarrassing rhetoric of Dan Quayle, and lets see where it gets him...
He must be kidding. He needs Sarah Palin there to bring in an audience.
Rick Santorum= self-important sack of garbage.
The man is an idiot... PA got rid of him in 2006; what valid reason does the rest of the Union have with voting for this sexist bigot?
So Santorum does not believe that politicians should be free from external religious influence in their decision making? Where do these idiotic American Taliban come from?
These bible thumpers are truly psychotic and antisocial. They prey on the fears of the weak-minded and in that way are worse than the "evils" that they like to moan about. It is disgusting.
I like a quote (mis-quote, actually) that I have seen on the blogs recently:
"when fascism comes to america, it will come wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
If these GOP fools really want to ride on the coat tails of Glenda Beck "running to be God" banner to whip of the evangelicals a la George W. Bush, then go for it. Been there done that, seen this rodeo before. If it works again, be prepared to see the decline of the good 'ol USA as we are all now witnessing from the decade of Bush/Cheney. Check out the new Vanity Fair piece on Palin. Goes right along with old Sanitorium's stance here. The woman, along with Glenda Beck, are certifiable. I say "bring it on"!
What is that definition of insanity again? Oh yea.......
Why do Republicans hate the Constitution?
Oh, who am I kidding...it's an inconvenience to them.
So Kennedy promised us that if elected, he would not take his marching orders from the Pope. And Santorum will promise that he will? So if we elect Rick, we really get Joe Ratzinger. How utterly terrifying.
Are you kidding me? There is no "challenge" to President Kennedy's speech.
"Oh, wait, no one is talking about me. Whaaaa! What can I do to get some media coverage?"
Please, just go away and get over yourself.
I remember all these Protestants going on and on about how religion should be separate from politics back when JFK was running for President. Their fear was t hat a papist would be elected President. Now it seems it' s okay to muddle politics and religion. Now the Prods want a Theocracy but they want a Protestant Theocracy. I say let's give them a Theocracy but give them a Roman Catholic, full-blown papist state. Make all the fundamentalist, evangelicals pray before a crucifix and have statues of saints in Public Schools. I say let's making Latin the second official language of the US. I already ahead. I had to learn it in Catholic school. I don't want no freakin' Protestant Theocracy.
Church has no place in government . That is America! It certainly has no business being sold to win an election.
Rick Santorum seems to forget all Americans are not Christians and that the separation of church and state protects us.
Oh great! Another GOPer who wants to turn this country into a Taliban state. Organized religion and some of these so-called Christians are why this world is so screwed up.
Rick, how about you come up with a few ideas to help this country and leave your religion (whatever religion you really practice) at home and in your worship center.
Just another loser republican. Has he already forgotten that he lost his re-election bid by 18 points? That's just what the PA voters think of him. Imagine what the rest of the country thinks of him.
Implicit in the freedom of religion enshrined in the Constitution is the idea that no single religion would gain preeminence through government support (establishment of a "state religion").
Implicit in Mr Santorum's speech title is that "his" faith is for some reason the one that should have prominence in the "Public Square."
Think not? Would Mr Santorum be making this speech if he were a proponent of Islam?
One can have religious faith (in fact, all persons, even atheists, have some kind of "religious" faith) and operate on that basis in the "public square" without using state power to promote such faith or demote other brands of faith. That's what the U.S. Constitution says, and that's what all but the most one-dimensional Americans believe.
And what nitwit theology does Santorum profess. Is he for transubstantiation of consubstantiation? Does he believe that Catholics will roast in hell or will Protestants simmer in Purgatory? Will Mormons be singing hymns with the elect in the afterlife or will they be down below with the Buddhists, Muslims, and Christian Scientists?
Is the Pope infallible in matters of faith? If so, then Protestants are grievously in error. If not, then Catholics are fools who have been guided by the Devil.
Just saying we are "for" faith and "against" the absence of religious faith says absolutely nothing. It just panders to the hayseeds, who all imagine that they are "true" Christians whose beliefs are dead center on God's target and that others who disagree with them are in error. The fundamentalist yokels fall for this every time, no matter how many times they are ignored after the elections.
Santorum is just trying to pump up his primary numbers in the 2012 Republican primaries. The stuff he is saying now is the same stuff he will be disavowing in the general election campaign if he is the nominee. Same Conservative stuff, different day.
I knew John Kennedy. John Kennedy was a friend of mine. Rick Santorum ... you're no Jack Kennedy.
I have "Faith" that Republicans will go away.
Santorum is anti-American.
Our freedom includes a freedom from religion.
Keep your beliefs Rick, just don't make me believe them.
"On my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country. My desire to discover the causes of this phenomenon increased from day to day. In order to satisfy it I questioned the members of all the different sects; I sought especially the society of the clergy, who are the depositaries of the different creeds and are especially interested in their duration. As a member of the Roman Catholic Church, I was more particularly brought into contact with several of its priests, with whom I became intimately acquainted. To each of these men I expressed my astonishment and explained my doubts. I found that they differed upon matters of detail alone, and that they all attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country mainly to the separation of church and state. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America I did not meet a single individual, of the clergy or the laity, who was not of the same opinion on this point."
"This led me to examine more attentively than I had hitherto done the station which the American clergy occupy in political society. I learned with surprise that they filled no public appointments; I did not see one of them in the administration, and they are not even represented in the legislative assemblies. In several states the law excludes them from political life; public opinion excludes them in all. And when I came to inquire into the prevailing spirit of the clergy, I found that most of its members seemed to retire of their own accord from the exercise of power, and that they made it the pride of their profession to abstain from politics. "
- Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1837.
So, when he talks about "Reviving the role of Faith in the Public Square," he's trying to one-up the Teabaggers by going pre-Revolution??
The holy war in the US has begun. Americans against Americas… get a life Rick!
He's going to challenge THAT? Are you serious? Is HE serious?
Come on, there's gotta be some mistake in here...
You can challenge but not even close.
Save your money Rick and stay home.
Why do all the Crazy Christians think they can re-write the constitution where it clearly dictates a separation of Church and State? GOP continues to echo how Dems are shoving socialism down the throats of Americans, when the majority of that same party feels it is OK to push their values on all Americans. While faith and spirituality are a part of my life, I believe in facts which are dictated by science, not by the bible. Too many Americans live in fear of God – life your life people modern religions are a sham!!!
In the vernacular of the day: 'You're smelling yourself' Pawlenty. John F. Kennedy was a beloved American president. You are not in the same stratosphere as JFK. Go back to the pile of useless rubble that encompass all current GOP wannabes: Palin, Gingrich, Qualye, Boehner et al.
Do not aspire to what you will never be. There's a lot to be said for knowing your place Paw.
Theocracy. NO!
Anyone and his brother wants to run for president in 2012. Santorum could not even win his Senate race in PA. What a joke!!
Be very afraid of the carpetbaggers who want to redefine the USA as a "Christian Nation". Once they pry the door open it will be down a slippery slope to having to attend the "right" churches, dress correctly, dance correctly, mate correctly, etc.
If there's anything we don't need in government, it is more religion. remember, that separation of church and state, is part of being in America.
Just look at Iran, to see what happens to government, when religion takes control.
"All" religions are the subjugation of self AND others. Our founding fathers learned their lessons in Europe. Now, religious thugs are taking over our country.
Why do religious wankers keep pontificating about moral values? Religious subjugation has no bounds.
Isn't time CNN helps expose this hypocrisy, instead of censoring my crude but truthful comment?
Little Ricky is the epitome of a sleeze-ball. We may be a "Christian" nation, but separation of church and state is what makes us different from the rest of the world.
Gee did I say Pawlenty? I meant the other clown Sanitarium!
My bad.
Thank you, Jeff Brown. Well said. Sometimes less is more.
Manondog Santorum is yet another RepubliKlan facist wacko that the media does not investigate.
If Santorum thinks he's mainstream...he should travel to less friendly states than TX for a speech. I hope he will trump his view of complete partnership between church & state...so we all know which candidates do not believe in the successful history of this country (separation!!) embracing tolerance, and living with those who are different (not just looks but values and lifestyles – rich and poor).
AH SHUT UP....
I'm already sick to death of the GOP/Christian union.... Shut up and keep it to yourself.
When he is done he can stop by Salem Mass. And then Pakistan and Afganistan speaking of places who didn't or don't believe in separation of church and state.
Santorum is qualified to pump gas.
BAH – Santorum 'sanctorum' hasn't a clue of what America is all about. This does not bode well for those Americans that believe in the Constitution. YIKES
This fellow is the face of the republican party and all it stands for. This the type of fellow that the Glenn Beck followers praise. This is a fellow that will try to discredit anything that a democrat stands for including one of the most beloved presidents that we have had in our life times. This is the type of fellow that needs to get a real job !
Kennedy was a more rational and compassionate man than Santorum could ever dream of being. I think it is disgusting he is taking on one of the cornerstones of our democracy and the only thing that separates us from the crazies in the middle east, that is, the separation of church and state.
This loser is a bigot, a liar, and a fraud. Having no ideas of his own, he now reaches deep into the lunatic right-wing fringe's bag of tricks and pulls out the "United States was founded as a Christian nation" spiel. Why doesn't he go out and get a job and stop stirring the pot? We have enough problems in this country without a rabble rouser who needs to feel self-important.
This is change I could believe in.
Who let 'man-on-dog' Rick out of the asylum?
And he lost re-elect because?
A Kennedy your not and never will be!
So what's next? Hey, become a preacher like what's his name!
Rick Santorum ??!!! You've got to be kidding.
Mr. Frothy Mix is at it again. Spread that Santorum!
I am so extremely tired of the conservative hypocrites continually jamming their so-called religion down my throat. Explain to me what God tells them it's okay for 44,000 Americans to die needlessly every year for lack of health insurance? What God tells them it's okay to discriminate against their fellow man? What God tells them that the unemployed are lazy and don't deserve our help? The mean spirited callous actions of the Republicans are anything BUT Christian.
Kennedy was a great president. Former senator Santorm, you are no Jack Kennedy.
Let's see. These nincompoop who is part of the I want my country back litany and I don't want big government in my backyard now wants to challenge President Kennedy's speech which pretty much echoes the Constitution as far as separation of church and state?
Why? Has he even read the Constitution?
Do there people think at all before they open their stupid pie hole and fall into the mud?
Our founding fathers ("all of them") wanted separation. Nobody's god, I don't care what your religion, should dictate government.
Another twit!!!
Religious people are the true Nuts of America.
They want to get rid of public schools and force your kids to prey to their christian god.
Its disgusting in this day and age.
These are the same people who blindly approve of sending 20 year olds to the front lines to fight the Muslim/christian war they have going on in their minds.
Muslims, blacks, Mexicans, gays and anyone else who isn't white christian is their enemy as they scream for others to sign some "Purity" contract.
The candidates they put forward; Palin, Angel, Rand Paul, etc. only further prove the lunacy and is a direct reflection overall mentality of people who vote for them.
Like I said, Just disgusting in this day and age.
And I agree with Jeff Brown in Jersey.
"This pipsqueak couldn't shine John Kennedy's shoes!"
He will also tell the crowd to "Ask what your country can do for you, not what you can do for your country."
Seriously...is he just an idiot??? What fool takes on JFK?
There's a reason why you lost your re-election, bid, sir, and they say the definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior and expecting a different result.
"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 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."
Yes, I can see where Rick Santorum would be against that. He hates the real America and our Constitution.
Shorter Santorum: "How can we have a theocracy if the mullahs can't tell the President what to do?"
Separation between church and state is a key pillar of our constitution and the explicit will of our founding fathers. Right wing, religious zealots like Rick Santorum have no argument otherwise and should keep their opinions on the matter to themselves. Ours is an explicitly secular government.
Apparently, they're having a sale on narcissistic delusions of grandeur at the local religio-fascist emporium. This should be an amusing hate ho-down to read about afterwards...especially listening to people who call themselves the protectors of the Constitution claim he's correct. It's a circus of misinformation and revisionist history, and this guy's driving the clown car. ALL ABOARD!!!
Don't even go there if you can't have own speech Santorum then there is no reason for you to run for president this only tells me that you are just another uneducated fool that doesn't have what it takes to be a leader
So NOW the Right is advocating a close relationship between church and state, but of course only if that church is a christian one. And for ALL their screaming about constitutionality, they are the ones striving to counter one of the hallmarks of the US Constitution, the separation of church and state.
Without this separation we would be in the same state as those countries where religion is the rule of law. Can anyone say, Iran?
about the time I think they have pulled another one.....................
they go and try something realy bad.................................................
JFK had it right 50 years ago...Santorum wants to dial back the clock to the 1950's? Good luck with that.
Rick, you and the religious whack jobs can keep the 50's....the rest of us have moved on.
The separation of church and state was of paramount importance to the Founding Fathers. After all, they were escaping massive religious persecution. America was founded as a place where people of any religion or no religion at all could coexist peacefully, and keeping each individual religion out of politics and lawmaking is essential to maintaining that peaceful coexistence. If there is not a single nonreligious reason for passing a law, then that law should not be passed. End of story.
Why in hell is this guy addressing religion? Maybe he thinks he's running to be pope. He's definitely a born-again idiot!!!
Those of faith should realize how insulting this is.
Those that don't obviously only care about themselves and their beliefs.
Freedom of Religion As Long As It's The Right Religion.
I totally agree, no name so and so.
Rick Scrotum is a skinhead in a suit! He wants to turn the separation of church and state and instill a state religion, so to speak.
Got to love "Freedom of Speech". Too bad these folks don't realize that such freedom also comes with responsibility.
Just what we need, another foolish ignorant Republic that things this country needs more religion.
When will they learn that the separation of church and state is there for a good reason. Religion makes people blind to reason and reality.
I guess some people won't be happy until we are back in the days of the Inquisition or we become similar to modern day Iran's state sponsored battering of other faiths.
If you have God, you don't have to worry about what other people are doing.
If you want to spread the Word, become a pastor or evangelist.
As stated, the only reason Kennedy had to do it was the fear surrounding the nation's first Catholic president. Would his loyalties lie with the Constitution or the Pope?
But the Separation of Church and State is only an issue when a "suspect" religion is in the limelight. Had Kennedy been a Baptist, he would have never had to give this speech.
Claims of complete separation of church and state is a fallacy. The government may have agreed to separate themselves from religious matters, but the various religions never (ever) made that inverse agreement, that they would separate themselves from influencing government..
I didn't know John F. Kennedy. But, I feel it's safe to say:
YOU, SIR, ARE NO JOHN KENNEDY!!!
These right wing-nuts are so full of themselves. Beck thought that his speech and day would go down in history! It was going to change the country!
My neighbor attended and thought it was a waste of his time and money. He said it was boring, and draining. This was hard for him to admit, since he worships the ground Beck walks on.
Wow, Santorum's one of those false conservatives that have dumbinated
the Repub party and driven true, get government out of our lives conservatives like me out of the party. I have been politically homeless for thirty years since the social conservatives arrived with their B.S., you know, no government in your fiscal life but we'll tell you what to do in your personal life. And we're also going to wear our religion on our sleeves, Barry Goldwater would be nauseated. So would William F Buckley, and - oh what's the use. Palin and the teabaggers don't have a clue as to who these people are
Look out folks...........There's plenty of right-wing bible thumping nutcases out there just like this bush league pretender that would like nothing more than to erase the Constitution and replace it with the Bible.........And maybe even go so far as to lock your a$$ up for choosing not to go to church every Sunday like every obedient little "Christian" sheep should!.......You've been warned.........Vote with caution!!!!!!
the quote goes all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,here is a example of a man redefining how one
's personal beliefs should be applied to everyone in regard to public policies in a attempt to appear more religious and more patriotic than those who actually incorporate the lessons learned through faith examples provided to assure that we look after those less fortunate,less powerful, less attractive then the fad of the moment.
Yes, in this country of freedom of religion even Catholics were considered the spawn of satan until the 1950s. And Santorum will not score high if he declares too loudly that he would make decisions based on the Pope's will, as his opponents (especially from his own xenophobic party) would surely air. Hey, in this country of so-called tolerance even Mitt Romney has to continually defend his faith from his fellow republicans, most of whom aren't aware that Mormons are Christians too.
And so the next plank of the Grand Old Fascist Party is exposed.
To all you right wing "christians".... if you want a Theocracy, then move to Iran. Otherwise leave religion out of politics.
I'm reading Ben Franklin's autobiography and notes, & letters. Everything happening now, happened then. That is why Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams among others, made provisions for the Separation of Church & State. There will always be zealots and atheists and those caught up in between. I just prefer America not turn into an Iran or Afghanistan, or Pakistan because of the zealots. The atheists merely point out "what if we're all wrong?"
Wow, we've come a long way. President Kennedy, a democrat had to explain his religion against anti-Catholic republicans who kept attacking him for it, saying how his religion will destroy America. (hmm, sounds familiar, doesn't it... what other President has recently been questioned on his religious convictions by republican zealots?) Now the majority of the Supreme Court are Catholics, most of whom were appointed by republicans. It is good to know republicans are finally recognizing at least a few of their fellow Christians.
All I want to say is... Oh HELL NO!!! The Right continues to push it's ideology on the rest of this country... by blurring the lines between church and state, we will be setting this country up for a Christian take over of Government. We as a Nation must fight to keep the Separation between Church and State in tact, or we will become the Christian version of Iran.
This country is not made up of just Christians. And amongst Christians, it's the extreme Right that is making this push. The rest of us Christians are appalled. First Glenn Beck's so called Rally, and now this.
True Conservatives, Moderates and Liberals must unite to keep the Radical Christian Right from supplanting our Government with it's ideology. Or it truly will be the end of this Great Nation....
I love Dan Savage's re-definition of Santorum! Mr. "Frothy" Santorum, however, barely got 1% of the straw poll the Republicans did in Iowa last month. Tell me again: Why is this religious nut and epic failure trying to throw his hat in the ring for President? Stay with your "frothy mix" career, Ricky. You're far more suited for it.
The more the potential C-Street republican hypocrits preach their christianity, the closer I hold my money. Hypocrits - all of them. We do NOT dictate religion or lack of in MY COUNTRY.
God bless the real USA that gives us ALL freedom.
I thought that we were through with him. His beliefs are his and his alone. Get out of the way, we are tired of you.
Just what we need right now another loser right wingnut pushing his born again crap on everyone. Do us all a favor and just go back into what every dark hole you crawled out of.
So what is he saying to challenge President Kennedy?
So that means Santorum would prefer that the US becomes a THEOCRACY, since that has worked so well for Iran.
Rick, you're an idiot. You want to play up to the Tea Baggers?
In 50 years ... the question will be ... Rick who???
This man is no JFK.
It really comes as no surprise that people such as this view the Constitution as a threat to their beliefs. I have the feeling that if these folks had their way that we would return to the days of history where people were annointed as rulers by religious leaders and heretics were sought out and punished. It seems this political ilk is trying their best to create religious wars.
And then Scumbag Santorum will give us his views on man-on-dog sex.
Dominionists like Santorum need to be kept out of government for everyone's good. Ya think the reactionary religious divisiveness and the endless wrangling of the courts dealing with church/state issues that should never have become issues in the first place are bad now – you don't even wanna know how ugly things will get if a mental midget like this guy gets back into a position to craft legislation. It's obvious that Santorum and his fellow regressives just want to take us back into the past.
Folks, it's not an "originalist" vs. interpretationalist theoretical argument any more, re the Constitution: We are a diverse society now – it's just a fact. The job of government has to be to provide the best environment, the most freedom, for ALL citizens, EQUALLY, here and now. It makes no difference that the founding fathers were Deist (kinda-sorta Christian, basically, though not so similar to today's Christians as they seem to think) – things will be better the less the government has to keep one religion off the neck of another, and that's just not possible the more one religion tries to set up shop within the government.
what has happened to this great country when a ex corrupt (jack abramoffs bag man ) senator thinks he can run as President with this load of crap.Hopefully the american voter is not as gulible as he thinks they are.
So, what does this "Santorum" want? Christian sharia? Shall we start stoning adulterers.
You are no Kennedy, you are just "Santorum".