Monday, May. 30, 1960

Dogma & Politics

They did not mention him by name, but the 13,000 "messengers" (delegates) assembled in Miami last week for the 103rd annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention did their best to torpedo Senator John F. Kennedy's chances to be President of the U.S.

First the Southern Baptists re-elected president Dr. Ramsey Pollard of Memphis, who had a few blazing observations about Roman Catholicism: "We call upon our Roman Catholic friends to give assurance from the very highest heights of their hierarchy that they believe in complete and absolute religious liberty. Roman Catholicism must come with clean hands and admit her own sin in the field of religious persecution and bigotry before she can dare raise her finger at us."

Later, by a voice vote, the Baptists passed a resolution that took dead aim at the election. "When a public official is inescapably bound by the dogma and demands of his church, he cannot consistently separate himself from these. This is especially true when that church maintains a position in open conflict with our established and constituted American pattern of life as specifically related to religious liberty, separation of church and state, the freedom of conscience in matters related to marriage and the family, the perpetuation of free public schools and the prohibition against use of public monies for sectarian purposes."

At the Vatican, Roman churchmen addressed themselves to the same topic, and in a way that was not likely to appeal to the Baptists. The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, ran a front-page editorial called "Firm Points" that obviously had high sanction. Although the editorial was specifically designed to warn Italian Christian Democrats against allying themselves with Marxist groups, its general implications obviously applied also to Kennedy.

"The Church," said L'Osservatore, "has full powers of true jurisdiction over all the faithful and hence has the duty and the right to guide, direct and correct them on the plane of ideas and the plane of action . . . The Church has the duty and the right to intervene even in [the political] field to enlighten and help consciences ... A Catholic can never prescind the teachings and directives of the Church.

In every sector of his activities he must inspire his private and public conduct by the laws, orientation and instructions of the hierarchy." In response to the editorial, Kennedy's press secretary, Pierre Salinger, issued a statement: "The American officeholder is committed by an oath to God to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which includes Article I providing for the separation of church and state." Kennedy's support of this principle "is not subject to change under any condition."

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