The Wall and the Test
Article VI of the Constitution specifies that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” That has worked very well to protect most Americans, except Catholics. For centuries Catholics have been judged on beliefs they presumably hold rather than on the actions they perform.
When John F. Kennedy ran for President in 1960 he felt with good reason that he had to subscribe to such a religious test if he was to be elected. To the Greater Houston Ministerial Association he proclaimed that “I believe in an America where the separation of Church and State is Absolute.”
That statement is absurd on its face and is no more amenable to definition or to rational explanation than any of the religious propositions people were obliged to subscribe to in the past. However, the purpose of the test was not to provide material for discussion. It was a trial of orthodoxy, an attempt to let his hearers know that he thought like them. Kennedy had never done anything to give aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States and there was not a shred of evidence to indicate that he would do so in the future. The test was about belief, not about his actions. As in the past the test was demanded to reinforce the confidence of like-minded people and to make sure that dissenting thought was excluded.
This test like all religious tests is inimical to American freedom. It attempts to promote orthodoxy of belief and ideology. During John Roberts’ Senate hearing for confirmation as Chief Justice, Senator Diane Feinstein quoted Kennedy’s statement, “I believe in an America where the separation of Church and State is Absolute” and added, “My question is, do you?” This was clearly an attempt to impose a test oath.
In this past Presidential campaign the New York Times criticized Republican candidate Mitt Romney for not subscribing to the Kennedy test. The paper claimed that Christian Fundamentalists wanted to “imposed their faith on the Oval Office” but added that Romney did not come near to subscribing to the Kennedy test. The editors wrote: “We believe democracy cannot exist without separation of church and state.” That is a belief, an ideology not found in the Constitution that they wish to impose on others. (NYT 12/7/07).
Commentators often laud Thomas Jefferson’s sentiment that “it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” However, God help the neighbor who does not “believe” in the “absolute” separation of Church and State.
The “wall of separation” imagery has created a new American test. It is an attempt to create orthodoxy and to control thought. Its followers violate the spirit and sometimes the letter of the constitutional provision that bans religious tests.