Thread by @JCNSeverino

On 9/12/1960, JFK told the Greater Houston Ministerial Association: "I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish;...and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all…." (1/8)

“…For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew—or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist….Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you….” (2/8)

"...Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end; where all men and all churches are treated as equal;...where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind;..." (3/8)

"...and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood…." (4/8)

"...This is the kind of America I believe in, and this is the kind I fought for in the South Pacific, and the kind my brother died for in Europe. No one suggested then that we may have a 'divided loyalty,' that we did 'not believe in liberty,'....” (5/8)

“…And in fact, this is the kind of America for which our forefathers died, when they fled here to escape religious test oaths...; when they fought for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom….” (6/8)

"...[C]ontrary to common newspaper usage, I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me." (7/8)

An ugly undercurrent of religious bigotry required our first Catholic president to make this appeal when he was running.

60 years later, I would hope we’re in a better place that leaves no room for allowing a nominee’s religious beliefs to influence #SCOTUS nominations. (8/8)