Spring Break
2008 - Retrospective - Breaking Down Barriers
Andrew J. Wylie (NI), Associate Editor
Issue date: 12/8/08 Section: News
To celebrate the New Year in Italy, it is tradition to throw old things out of one's window. This is practiced perhaps more literally than foreigners might suspect - it behooves passersby to heed falling objects.
We in the United States could do worse than to adopt this strategy, at least in the figurative sense. As 2008 comes to a close, we should take time to reflect on that which makes us a great country, be thankful for what we have and think hard about what to do in 2009 to make ourselves a more perfect union. Some things need to be thrown out with the trash to make room for the new.
One of the great things about our country is the separation between church and state. The separation is unfortunately a bit more theoretical than actual. Bigotry rooted in religious bias reared its ugly head in our recent (and lengthy) Presidential campaign. Consider the following excerpts from John F. Kennedy's famous 1960 speech: "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute… I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end; where all men and all churches are treated as equal… That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of presidency in which I believe - a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group, nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group."
Kennedy had to prove he was worthy of the highest office in this land in spite of his particular faith - why did we revisit this notion forty eight years later? Former Governor Mitt Romney felt compelled to make a similar speech during his campaign. A candidate should not have to defend his or her religious beliefs in order to sate the public's thirst for legitimacy. Our nation was founded in large part by those seeking the freedom to worship in their own way. That a candidate for President is a member of a minority faith should be a validation of our political framework, not an impetus for intellectual inquisition.
We in the United States could do worse than to adopt this strategy, at least in the figurative sense. As 2008 comes to a close, we should take time to reflect on that which makes us a great country, be thankful for what we have and think hard about what to do in 2009 to make ourselves a more perfect union. Some things need to be thrown out with the trash to make room for the new.
One of the great things about our country is the separation between church and state. The separation is unfortunately a bit more theoretical than actual. Bigotry rooted in religious bias reared its ugly head in our recent (and lengthy) Presidential campaign. Consider the following excerpts from John F. Kennedy's famous 1960 speech: "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute… I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end; where all men and all churches are treated as equal… That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of presidency in which I believe - a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group, nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group."
Kennedy had to prove he was worthy of the highest office in this land in spite of his particular faith - why did we revisit this notion forty eight years later? Former Governor Mitt Romney felt compelled to make a similar speech during his campaign. A candidate should not have to defend his or her religious beliefs in order to sate the public's thirst for legitimacy. Our nation was founded in large part by those seeking the freedom to worship in their own way. That a candidate for President is a member of a minority faith should be a validation of our political framework, not an impetus for intellectual inquisition.
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