The BS pulpit
The quote of note comes from the LA Times index page that links to the editorial:
One of the pious maxims of American politics for the last 40 years has been that a candidate should never be attacked on religious grounds. This stricture is eminently fair insofar as private faith is concerned. But when personal faith begins to determine public policy, then the issue becomes fair game.
A New Meaning for 'Bully Pulpit'
By Susan Jacoby
Susan Jacoby is the author of the recently published "Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism" (Metropolitan Books) and director of the Center for Inquiry-Metro New York.
April 12, 2004
One of the pious maxims of American politics for the last 40 years has been that a candidate should never be attacked on religious grounds. This stricture is eminently fair insofar as private faith is concerned. But when personal faith begins to determine public policy, then the issue becomes fair game.
When John F. Kennedy was running in 1960, he was called on, as the second Roman Catholic to seek the nation's highest office, to affirm his support for the separation of church and state. In a speech regarded as a turning point of his campaign, Kennedy memorably declared, "I do not speak for my church on public matters — and the church does not speak for me."
President Bush's candidacy deserves the same level of scrutiny — not because of what he might do in the future but because of what he has already done on behalf of an ultraconservative, mainly Christian constituency that has no qualms about trying to turn its faith into the law of the land.
