From a blog written by Rob Boston in the magazine Church and State...
But these were not just words. Once in office, Kennedy pursued policies that strengthened the church-state wall. He rebuffed demands from the Catholic hierarchy for taxpayer aid for parochial schools, and he backed birth control programs.
The June 1963 issue of Church & State reported that Kennedy supported federal funding of population control programs overseas. Such programs may seem commonplace today, but they were hugely controversial at the time, with the Catholic hierarchy leading the opposition. Kennedy ignored the clerics and approved the aid. Kennedy also showed considerable political courage in June of 1962, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down official programs of prayer in public schools. Polls showed that the Engel v. Vitale opinion was widely misunderstood and very unpopular. It would have been easy for Kennedy to engage in demagoguery. He did the opposite. Kennedy appealed for calm and reminded Americans of the importance of the rule of law. Speaking at a press conference, he added, “In addition, we have in this case a very easy remedy and that is to pray ourselves. We can pray a good deal more at home, we can attend our churches with a good deal more fidelity and we can make the true meaning of prayer much more important in the lives of all of our children. That power is very much open to us.”
Glenn Archer, the first executive director of Americans United, praised Kennedy for his stands in favour of church-state separation. In his 1982 memoir The Dream Lives On, Archer observed, “His presidency was a golden age for the separation cause, and it was a stirring example of one politician who kept his promises to thepeople.” The anniversary of the assassination led many writers to play “what if” games. It’s natural to speculate. If Kennedy had lived and gone on to win a second term, would he have perhaps cobbled together a coalition with enough power to have blunted the eventual rise of the New Right (with its strong Religious Right component)?
We can’t say. But we can say that one of the tragedies of Dallas is that we lost a leader committed to the great American principle of separation of church and state. No national leader who has come afterward has been as powerful an advocate for that protective barrier as JFK was. We are all much poorer for that. Unquote.
As we observe the current political situation in the U.S.A., we can clearly see how far we are along the prophetic timeline, particularly as we consider the thoughts of the founding fathers, which been ignored, revised, and distorted by today's religionists, and the clear and courageous stand made by Kennedy in the 60s. How is it that the intents of the founding fathers have been so roundly rejected and ignored? And what now do we have with soon to be 6 Catholic justices on the Supreme Court to interest the constitution in favor of church state union with no doubt the full backing off the Vatican and the strongly Catholic leaning party in power?
Revelation 13 speaks of a time when government will pass religious laws that will result in penalties being laid upon anyone who dissents. Adventist eschatology is still on the table. And as far as I can see it's standing alone.
Remember the quote from Thomas Paine. A religion that is based on law is a persecuting religion. History testifies to this truth. Are we witnessing the establishment of a law based religion in America with the full support of the evangelical and charismatic churches who only a short few years ago were denying the reformation and arguing for a return to Rome? I believe we are.
