Santorum's Fanaticism: An Attack On JFK

Tom Ferrick, Jr. on Santorum in the New York Times:

In 2010, Santorum delivered a little-noticed speech in Houston to mark the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s address in the same city before a convention of Protestant ministers. Kennedy went before the group to alleviate fears that if a Catholic was elected president of the United States, the Pope would rule America. As Kennedy said at the beginning of his speech: “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.” Santorum went to Houston not to praise Kennedy but to bash him. To Santorum, the Kennedy speech did permanent damage because it led to secularization of American politics. He said it laid the foundation for attacks on religion by the secular left that has led to denial of free speech rights to religious people. “John F. Kennedy chose not to just dispel fear,” Santorum said, “he chose to expel faith.” In Santorum’s view, Kennedy’s speech led to a debasement of the first freedom — the freedom of religion — so that it is now on “the lowest rung of interests to be considered when weighing rights against one another.”