The Wheels Of Progress

Fifty-two years ago, campaigning to be the first-ever Catholic President of the United States, John F. Kennedy felt compelled to deliver a speech to an assembly of Protestant clergymen in which he assured them that the Catholic church was not some sort of "secret society" and that, if elected, he would not be taking orders from the Pope.

Hard to believe that, not that long ago, American prejudice made such a speech necessary. Well, on second thought, not so hard to believe after all. Our streak of Mayflower WASP-ish intolerance is wide, deep, and a matter of record. Just ask the native Americans, the African slaves, and every sort of un-WASP-ish ethnic and religious group that ever ventured to these shores.

Slowly and unsteadily, we get better. We eventually rise above the nonsense. Kennedy, the scary Catholic, was elected. For 1960, it was kind of a big deal. Happily, being Catholic isn't a big deal at all these days. Two of our current GOP presidential hopefuls are Catholic.

Unhappily, bigotry and fear of the "other" still plays a role in this country, and some bastards don't hesitate to exploit it -- and yes, I refer to those two devout douchebag Catholics, Gingrich and Santorum.









Progress always has its sticking points. An example is the "Christian Expedient": So far in our history, whether Protestant or Catholic, our presidents have been Christian, or at least have found it the smart play to claim to be. This includes the Christian but decidedly un-WASPy Barack Obama, who Newt and Rick want you to believe is instead the radical black Kenyan Muslim Marxist who's not an American citizen. No, they would never say such things themselves, but if others do, well, whatcha gonna do?

Good luck with that shit, boys. It didn't work in 2008, and it probably won't work now. But the fact that the fear-mongering Fox News crowd thinks it might work and is still trying to peddle it is evidence that our progress has a long way to go.

One of these days, I don't know when, it will happen like this:

Responding to the obligatory question, a mainstream, non-crackpot presidential candidate will forthrightly say, "My religion, if any, is of no consequence. I am running to be your president, not your preacher, priest, rabbi or imam. If I'm elected, I will work my ass off and do the job to the very best of my ability, but religion will have nothing to do with it. Let me put it another way -- my religion, or lack thereof, is personal and is none of your fucking business! Next question."






Now that would be progress! I'd vote for that person in a heartbeat! But it probably won't happen in my lifetime.