John F. Kennedy Quotes About Atheism
-
Whatever one's religion in his private life may be, for the officeholder, nothing takes precedence over his oath to uphold the Constitution and all its parts - including the First Amendment and the strict separation of church and state.
→ -
I believe the American people are more concerned with a man's views and abilities than with the church to which he belongs. I believe the founding fathers meant it when they provided in Article VI of the Constitution that there should be no religious test for public office. And I believe that the American people mean to adhere to those principles today.
→ -
I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me.
→ -
I would not look with favor upon a President working to subvert the First Amendment's guarantees of religious liberty ... 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.
→ -
I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end... where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice.
→ -
Voters are more than Catholics, Protestants or Jews. They make up their minds for many diverse reasons, good and bad. To submit the candidates to a religious test is unfair enough - to apply it to the voters is divisive, degrading and wholly unwarranted.
→ -
I am flatly opposed to appointment of an ambassador to the Vatican. Whatever advantages it might have in Rome - and I'm not convinced of these - they would be more than offset by the divisive effect at home.
→ -
If my church attempted to influence me in a way which was improper or which affected adversely my responsibilities as a public servant sworn to uphold the Constitution, then I would reply to them that this was an improper action on their part. It was one to which I could not subscribe.
→ -
... the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy.
→
Related Authors
-
Barack Obama 44th U.S. President -
Jackie Kennedy Former First Lady of the United States -
Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd U.S. President -
Dwight D. Eisenhower 34th U.S. President -
Richard M. Nixon 37th U.S. President -
Lyndon B. Johnson 36th U.S. President -
Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil rights activist -
Robert Kennedy Former U.S. Senator -
Ronald Reagan 40th U.S. President -
Marilyn Monroe Actress -
John F. Kennedy Jr. Lawyer -
Lee Harvey Oswald Armed force officer -
Joseph P. Kennedy Former United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom -
George W. Bush 43rd U.S. President -
George Washington 1st U.S. President -
Edward Kennedy Former United States Senator -
William J. Clinton 42nd U.S. President -
Abraham Lincoln 16th U.S. President -
Nikita Khrushchev Former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union -
Caroline Kennedy Author