religion and politics

here's a quote from jfk's campaign, which seems like a good description of how a nation should be run, if the national aim is justice and simple fair play.

"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute," Kennedy told the Houston ministers, "where no Catholic prelate would tell the President -- should he be Catholic -- how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference ... I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials."

here in oz, very different views have prevailed. i suspect that diverting public funds to religious institutions is divisive. i strongly suspect that diverting public funds to private schools is even more divisive. yet it is winning politics in a parliamentary state. it's a perfect example of special interests feeding off the common purse: parliamentary politics in a nutshell.

if you wonder where your taxes go, they are bled off into many special interests to re-elect pollies, the residue is spent on the nation.

Posted by DEMOS, Thursday, 6 December 2007 1:25:21 PM