Santorum also made headlines with his eye-popping comment in February that reading John F. Kennedy’s famous 1960 speech on religious freedom made him want to “throw up.”
“What kind of country do we live in that says only people of nonfaith can come into the public square and make their case?” Mr. Santorum said Feb. 26 on ABC’s “This Week.”
Later he added: “I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.”
Santorum is a devout Roman Catholic, but he has a large following among born-again Christians. Religious conservatives have long complained about court rulings that bar expressions of faith in public settings, such as prayer in public schools, nativity scenes on public land, and the posting of the Ten Commandments in court houses – and many see Santorum as a champion of their cause.
Romney, in contrast, is a Mormon – a controversial religion in some circles – and prefers to keep discussion of faith out of the public sphere. True, when he gave a major speech on faith in his last presidential run four years ago, he argued that separation of church and state had gone too far – but without criticizing the Kennedy speech. In his 2012 campaign, Romney has declined to discuss his faith, except to say that it is a pillar of his life.
More important, Santorum mischaracterized the intent of the Catholic Kennedy’s speech, as he sought to reassure Americans that he would not take orders from the Vatican if elected president, according to FactCheck.org.
“He never said that religious people could not voice their opinions,” says the FactCheck.org article on Santorum’s statement. “We find nothing in Kennedy’s words that could be reasonably construed to say that Kennedy would not ‘consult with people of faith,’ as Santorum claimed.”
Santorum later told conservative talk-radio host Laura Ingraham that he regretted his characterization of Kennedy’s speech, saying the speech contained some “good things.” But he added that “there were some things [in the speech] that triggered in my opinion the privatization of faith and I think that’s a bad thing.”
