“约翰肯尼迪政教要绝对分离”的英文演讲稿 本文关键词：肯尼迪，约翰，政教，英文，演讲稿
“约翰肯尼迪政教要绝对分离”的英文演讲稿 本文简介：IBelieveinanAmericaWheretheSeparationofChurchandStateisAbsoluteSeptember12,1960,addresstotheGreaterHoustonMinisterialAssociationBY:JohnF.KennedyWhilet
“约翰肯尼迪政教要绝对分离”的英文演讲稿 本文内容：
I
Believe
in
an
America
Where
the
Separation
of
Church
and
State
is
Absolute
September
12,1960,address
to
the
Greater
Houston
Ministerial
Association
BY:
John
F.
Kennedy
While
the
so-called
religious
issue
is
necessarily
and
properly
the
chief
topic
here
tonight,I
want
to
emphasize
from
the
outset
that
we
have
far
more
critical
issues
to
face
in
the
1960
election;
the
spread
of
Communist
influence,until
it
now
festers
90
miles
off
the
coast
of
Florida--the
humiliating
treatment
of
our
President
and
Vice
President
by
those
who
no
longer
respect
our
power--the
hungry
children
I
saw
in
West
Virginia,the
old
people
who
cannot
pay
their
doctor
bills,the
families
forced
to
give
up
their
farms--an
America
with
too
many
slums,with
too
few
schools,and
too
late
to
the
moon
and
outer
space.
These
are
the
real
issues
which
should
decide
this
campaign.
And
they
are
not
religious
issues--for
war
and
hunger
and
ignorance
and
despair
know
no
religious
barriers.
But
because
I
am
a
Catholic,and
no
Catholic
has
ever
been
elected
President,the
real
issues
in
this
campaign
have
been
obscured--perhaps
deliberately,in
some
quarters
less
responsible
than
this.
So
it
is
apparently
necessary
for
me
to
state
once
again--not
what
kind
of
church
I
believe
in,for
that
should
be
important
only
to
me--but
what
kind
of
America
I
believe
in.
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.
I
believe
in
an
America
that
is
officially
neither
Catholic,Protestant
nor
Jewish--where
no
public
official
either
requests
or
accepts
instructions
on
public
policy
from
the
Pope,the
National
Council
of
Churches
or
any
other
ecclesiastical
source--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.
For
while
this
year
it
may
be
a
Catholic
against
whom
the
finger
of
suspicion
is
pointed,in
other
years
it
has
been,and
may
someday
be
again,a
Jew--or
a
Quaker--or
a
Unitarian--or
a
Baptist.
It
was
Virginia
s
harassment
of
Baptist
preachers,for
example,that
helped
lead
to
Jefferson
s
statute
of
religious
freedom.
Today
I
may
be
the
victim--but
tomorrow
it
may
be
you--until
the
whole
fabric
of
our
harmonious
society
is
ripped
at
a
time
of
great
national
peril.
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--where
there
is
no
Catholic
vote,no
anti-Catholic
vote,no
bloc
voting
of
any
kind--and
where
Catholics,Protestants
and
Jews,at
both
the
lay
and
pastoral
level,will
refrain
from
those
attitudes
of
disdain
and
division
which
have
so
often
marred
their
works
in
the
past,and
promote
instead
the
American
ideal
of
brotherhood.
That
is
the
kind
of
America
in
which
I
believe.
And
it
represents
the
kind
of
Presidency
in
which
I
believe--a
great
office
that
must
neither
be
humbled
by
making
it
the
instrument
of
any
one
religious
group
nor
tarnished
by
arbitrarily
withholding
its
occupancy
from
the
members
of
any
one
religious
group.
I
believe
in
a
President
whose
religious
views
are
his
own
private
affair,neither
imposed
by
him
upon
the
nation
or
imposed
by
the
nation
upon
him
as
a
condition
to
holding
that
office.
I
would
not
look
with
favor
upon
a
President
working
to
subvert
the
first
amendment
s
guarantees
of
religious
liberty.
Nor
would
our
system
of
checks
and
balances
permit
him
to
do
so--and
neither
do
I
look
with
favor
upon
those
who
would
work
to
subvert
Article
VI
of
the
Constitution
by
requiring
a
religious
test--even
by
indirection--for
it.
If
they
disagree
with
that
safeguard
they
should
be
out
openly
working
to
repeal
it.
I
want
a
Chief
Executive
whose
public
acts
are
responsible
to
all
groups
and
obligated
to
none--who
can
attend
any
ceremony,service
or
dinner
his
office
may
appropriately
require
of
him--and
whose
fulfillment
of
his
Presidential
oath
is
not
limited
or
conditioned
by
any
religious
oath,ritual
or
obligation.
This
is
the
kind
of
America
I
believe
in--and
this
is
the
kind
I
fought
for
in
the
South
Pacific,and
the
kind
my
brother
died
for
in
Europe.
No
one
suggested
then
that
we
may
have
a
“divided
loyalty,“that
we
did
“not
believe
in
liberty,“or
that
we
belonged
to
a
disloyal
group
that
threatened
the
“freedoms
for
which
our
forefathers
died.“And
in
fact
this
is
the
kind
of
America
for
which
our
forefathers
died--when
they
fled
here
to
escape
religious
test
oaths
that
denied
office
to
members
of
less
favored
churches--when
they
fought
for
the
Constitution,the
Bill
of
Rights,and
the
Virginia
Statute
of
Religious
Freedom--and
when
they
fought
at
the
shrine
I
visited
today,the
Alamo.
For
side
by
side
with
Bowie
and
Crockett
died
McCafferty
and
Bailey
and
Carey--but
no
one
knows
whether
they
were
Catholic
or
not.
For
there
was
no
religious
test
at
the
Alamo.
I
ask
you
tonight
to
follow
in
that
tradition--to
judge
me
on
the
basis
of
my
record
of
14
years
in
Congress--on
my
declared
stands
against
an
Ambassador
to
the
Vatican,against
unconstitutional
aid
to
parochial
schools,and
against
any
boycott
of
the
public
schools
(which
I
have
attended
myself)--instead
of
judging
me
on
the
basis
of
these
pamphlets
and
publications
we
all
have
seen
that
carefully
select
quotations
out
of
context
from
the
statements
of
Catholic
church
leaders,usually
in
other
countries,frequently
in
other
centuries,and
always
omitting,of
course,the
statement
of
the
American
Bishops
in
1948
which
strongly
endorsed
church-state
separation,and
which
more
nearly
reflects
the
views
of
almost
every
American
Catholic.
I
do
not
consider
these
other
quotations
binding
upon
my
public
acts--why
should
you?
But
let
me
say,with
respect
to
other
countries,that
I
am
wholly
opposed
to
the
state
being
used
by
any
religious
group,Catholic
or
Protestant,to
compel,prohibit,or
persecute
the
free
exercise
of
any
other
religion.
And
I
hope
that
you
and
I
condemn
with
equal
fervor
those
nations
which
deny
their
Presidency
to
Protestants
and
those
which
deny
it
to
Catholics.
And
rather
than
cite
the
misdeeds
of
those
who
differ,I
would
cite
the
record
of
the
Catholic
Church
in
such
nations
as
Ireland
and
France--and
the
independence
of
such
statesmen
as
Adenauer
and
De
Gaulle.
But
let
me
stress
again
that
these
are
my
views--for
contrary
to
common
newspaper
usage,I
am
not
the
Catholic
candidate
for
President.
I
am
the
Democratic
Party
s
candidate
for
President
who
happens
also
to
be
a
Catholic.
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
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.
But
if
the
time
should
ever
come--and
I
do
not
concede
any
conflict
to
be
even
remotely
possible--when
my
office
would
require
me
to
either
violate
my
conscience
or
violate
the
national
interest,then
I
would
resign
the
office;
and
I
hope
any
conscientious
public
servant
would
do
the
same.
But
I
do
not
intend
to
apologize
for
these
views
to
my
critics
of
either
Catholic
or
Protestant
faith--nor
do
I
intend
to
disavow
either
my
views
or
my
church
in
order
to
win
this
election.
If
I
should
lose
on
the
real
issues,I
shall
return
to
my
seat
in
the
Senate,satisfied
that
I
had
tried
my
best
and
was
fairly
judged.
But
if
this
election
is
decided
on
the
basis
that
40
million
Americans
lost
their
chance
of
being
President
on
the
day
they
were
baptized,then
it
is
the
whole
nation
that
will
be
the
loser,in
the
eyes
of
Catholics
and
non-Catholics
around
the
world,in
the
eyes
of
history,and
in
the
eyes
of
our
own
people.
But
if,on
the
other
hand,I
should
win
the
election,then
I
shall
devote
every
effort
of
mind
and
spirit
to
fulfilling
the
oath
of
the
Presidency--practically
identical,I
might
add,to
the
oath
I
have
taken
for
14
years
in
the
Congress.
For
without
reservation,I
can
“solemnly
swear
that
I
will
faithfully
execute
the
office
of
President
of
the
United
States,and
will
to
the
best
of
my
ability
preserve,protect,and
defend
the
Constitution.so
help
me
God.