THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 23, 1995 TAG: 9509220031
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 29 lines
The danger to the democratic political process posed by the recent burgeoning political clout of the Christian Coalition, a power recently acknowledged by Speaker Newt Gingrich, was recognized by Thomas Jefferson in its primitive guise when he formulated Virginia's Statute of Religious Freedom.
This danger was re-emphasized by then-Sen. John F. Kennedy when speaking to an assemblage of religious leaders in Houston on Sept. 12, 1960, during his presidential campaign. Kennedy said, ``I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish. When no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source. When no religious body seeks to impose its will, directly or indirectly, upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials.''
The present danger is at least as great, if not greater, than any previous time in our history. It must be opposed.
KENNETH H. SCHWARTZ
Virginia Beach, Sept. 10, 1995 by CNB