Religion: Questions for 1960

The debate on whether a Roman Catholic should be President is rolling right along—as is Senator John F. Kennedy’s campaign for the Democratic nomination. In the Methodist Church of Edgartown, Mass, last week, Bishop John Wesley Lord explained why the prospect of a Catholic President worries him. “While we hold to the principle of respect for every individual, whatever his race or religion, because of the unique claims that the Roman Catholic Church makes for itself, we have the right and duty to ask some questions of a presidential aspirant.” He proceeded to ask five:

¶ Do you believe that the American free-public-school system is a bulwark of American democracy, or do you stand for a religiously segregated school system?

¶ Do you stand for the principle of separation of church and state as a principle to be applied for the benefit of all churches and all creeds?

¶ As President, you will be called upon to attend many religious services in Protestant churches. Can you attend such services and worship in freedom of conscience and in the belief that such service can bless the land that you serve?

¶ Can you enforce any civil law, even when the law conflicts with ecclesiastical law or dogma of the church?

¶ Can you make your decisions impartially?

To The Pilot, Boston’s official Catholic weekly, Bishop Lord’s questions were “ridiculous,” and to show why, the paper addressed a few contentious questions of its own to a possible Methodist candidate. Samples:

¶ Can you, without qualification of any kind, acknowledge the historic American Revolution, in the light of the condemnation of the revolution issued to the colonies by your founder, John Wesley? Would you be willing publicly to repudiate the sentiments of the aforementioned before taking public office?

¶ In the light of the traditional racial segregation long practiced and still mightily supported in Methodist churches in the United States, can you be relied upon to carry through the Supreme Court decisions recently made on this topic? Can you serve with Negroes in your Cabinet?

¶ One of the fundamental tenets of Methodism is the condemnation of the use of spirits. Committed by conscience to this proposition, would you, in a position of public trust, respect the right of others to consume such beverages? Could Government funds be used for this purpose, as in official cocktail parties? Would liquor industries be shut down? . . . Would you strive to make [present state anti-liquor] laws federal, thus forcing your own religious views on all your fellow citizens?

¶ Bishop Lord and other Methodist leaders have many times proposed political action at variance with the established national policy, such as recognition of Red China or its admittance to the United Nations. Would you disobey the directives of your religious leaders and remain loyal to the traditional American policy?

¶ The famous discipline which regulates Methodist teaching protests against Catholic teaching. Would you in public office be required to protest or suppress Catholic teaching as directed in this document? The moral, concluded The Pilot: “Anyone can play this game, if he doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty!”