In 1960, then-presidential candidate John F. Kennedy set a standard for Catholic politicians seeking federal office in a nation still viscerally anti-Catholic. In a speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts declared that he separates church from state in his soul. He was not ambiguous about which had priority.
I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute…. I believe in a President whose religious views are his own private affair…. 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. …
