Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bob Stannard, an author, musician and former lobbyist. This piece first appeared in the Bennington Banner.
At the age of 12 I had a crush on a local girl. We’d hang out with a group of Dorset kids all the time. Then, one day my mom pulled me aside to tell me that she could see I was very fond of this girl. I got all nervous thinking we were going to have a painful discussions about not having sex until I was married or something. Turns out she had a greater concern.
“You really shouldn’t get too involved with her because she’s Catholic,” she said.
I didn’t know the difference between a Catholic and an alien, but my Protestant mom sure did.
John F. Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic to run and win the presidency in 1960. Back then there were those who were really worried that he wouldn’t be able to separate his religion from the public office that he sought. Many Americans were fearful that the Catholic Church would control our government.
Kennedy had to try to convince the electorate that his religious beliefs were his own and his religion would not have any impact on his ability to serve as president of the United States. From Wikipedia: “To address fears among Protestants that his Roman Catholicism would impact his decision-making, Kennedy told the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on Sept. 12, 1960, ‘I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president who also happens to be a Catholic.’”
My how times have changed.
Instead of being fearful of a candidate’s religious beliefs having a possible undue impact on governing, many in this country now appear to want us to be a religious state. The evangelicals of today support the least religious president in history, a man who’s cheated on three wives and boasted about grabbing women’s genitals. They like him, because they believe he’s pushing their agenda.
Thomas Jefferson had this to say on the matter: “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”
Jefferson wanted to make it clear that the government was not in the business of religion. Americans have the right to worship in any way that they see fit. But what about those who would impose their religious beliefs onto others who may not adhere to their religion? What about those who advocate that the government should not only protect their right to worship, but their desire to have our government favor their religion over another.
Today America is ladened with people who believe that their religious views should be the law of the land. They can’t do “X” because of their religious beliefs and neither should you.
The last piece of legislation I helped pass before I retired was the patient’s choice bill, that would allow a person to take their own life when terminally ill. One day I was confronted by a group of people in the Statehouse lobby. They knew that I was a lobbyist working on this bill. They made it clear to me that they didn’t support this legislation. I explained that the bill had no more impact on them then the legalization of same sex marriage, which only impacted those getting married. Raising the “same sex marriage” defense did little to reduce their anger.
I asked the spokesperson why this bill concerned them. They replied that their religion would not allow a person to take his or her life if terminally ill. The same argument was used for sex before marriage.
I was raised by a plumber who taught me to mind my own business and let others live their lives as they see fit. How others live was none of my business as long as they don’t impact me. He was a wise man.
I looked at the group’s leader and told him that the bill only allowed for me to take my own life if/when I become terminally ill. It didn’t allow me to take the life of another. I told him that “if you’d like I could see about getting that amendment included.”
That did little to alleviate their disdain towards me. I didn’t care. I’ve always had a thing about others telling me what I should believe and how I should live. Maybe it stemmed from a mother’s concern about me hanging out with a Catholic girl, or maybe it was from my father’s “mind your own beeswax” philosophy on life. Either way I’m fine with whatever it is you want to do. Just keep it to yourself.
