2008 Woodie Awards
Point-Counterpoint
Should U.S. Presidents continue to meet with Roman Catholic Popes?
Jake Cox
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: Opinion
Sidestepping separation of church and state
Woodrow Wilson was the first U.S. president to meet with a pope when he met Benedict XV in 1919. After Dwight Eisenhower met with John XXIII in 1959, each subsequent U.S. president has kept precedent and met with the Roman Catholic Church's leader at least once. President Bush held his fifth papal meeting, more than any other U.S. president, after Pope Benedict XVI arrived in America for the first time at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on April 15. A recent Gallup poll demonstrated that seven in 10 Americans think that the president and the pope should maintain or strengthen their already-thriving political relationship. However, I think it is imperative that we embrace the constitutional concept of separation of church and state and distance our president from the pope.
When our founding fathers conceived the separation of church and state concept while writing our Constitution, they envisioned a system of government responsible only for protecting the freedoms, rights, and civil liberties of its citizens and nothing more. When using this perspective on the role of government, one can see that it is not the responsibility of our government leaders to be catering to the needs and wishes of any religious organization, nor should we want our government leaders to have such a responsibility.
Sidestepping separation of church and state by careful scrutiny of the Constitution's wording, U.S. presidents and popes have been developing strong relationships since 1959 which has added an unnecessary, yet distinct religious dimension to the national and global political realms. Thus, there exists no aspect of American society yet to be perverted by our blatantly obvious preferential political relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.
The America-God connection, representing the unconstitutional president-pope relationship, is everywhere. It's on our money. It's in our pledge of allegiance. It comes from our president's mouth. It guides our president's actions. This perversion of society legitimately attacks the American ideology of religious freedom, a freedom which was the primary motivator behind the American Revolution and should continue to be a motivator in our current revolution.
Woodrow Wilson was the first U.S. president to meet with a pope when he met Benedict XV in 1919. After Dwight Eisenhower met with John XXIII in 1959, each subsequent U.S. president has kept precedent and met with the Roman Catholic Church's leader at least once. President Bush held his fifth papal meeting, more than any other U.S. president, after Pope Benedict XVI arrived in America for the first time at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on April 15. A recent Gallup poll demonstrated that seven in 10 Americans think that the president and the pope should maintain or strengthen their already-thriving political relationship. However, I think it is imperative that we embrace the constitutional concept of separation of church and state and distance our president from the pope.
When our founding fathers conceived the separation of church and state concept while writing our Constitution, they envisioned a system of government responsible only for protecting the freedoms, rights, and civil liberties of its citizens and nothing more. When using this perspective on the role of government, one can see that it is not the responsibility of our government leaders to be catering to the needs and wishes of any religious organization, nor should we want our government leaders to have such a responsibility.
Sidestepping separation of church and state by careful scrutiny of the Constitution's wording, U.S. presidents and popes have been developing strong relationships since 1959 which has added an unnecessary, yet distinct religious dimension to the national and global political realms. Thus, there exists no aspect of American society yet to be perverted by our blatantly obvious preferential political relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.
The America-God connection, representing the unconstitutional president-pope relationship, is everywhere. It's on our money. It's in our pledge of allegiance. It comes from our president's mouth. It guides our president's actions. This perversion of society legitimately attacks the American ideology of religious freedom, a freedom which was the primary motivator behind the American Revolution and should continue to be a motivator in our current revolution.
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