John F. Kennedy Quotes About Atheism

• ... the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy.

  John F. Kennedy

  Atheism, Citizens, Crime

  Address to the American Newspaper Publishers, delivered 27 April 1961, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York

• I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me.

  John F. Kennedy

  Church, Atheism, Matter

  Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, delivered 12 September 1960 at the Rice Hotel in Houston, TX

• Whatever one's religion in his private life may be, for the officeholder, nothing takes precedence over his oath to uphold the Constitution and all its parts - including the First Amendment and the strict separation of church and state.

  John F. Kennedy

  Presidential, Atheism, Church

• If my church attempted to influence me in a way which was improper or which affected adversely my responsibilities as a public servant sworn to uphold the Constitution, then I would reply to them that this was an improper action on their part. It was one to which I could not subscribe.

  John F. Kennedy

  Responsibility, Atheism, Church

  Greater Houston Ministerial Association Q & A, delivered 12 September 1960 at the Rice Hotel in Houston, TX

• I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end... where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice.

  John F. Kennedy

  Religious, Atheist, Believe

  Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, delivered 12 September 1960 at the Rice Hotel in Houston, TX

• Voters are more than Catholics, Protestants or Jews. They make up their minds for many diverse reasons, good and bad. To submit the candidates to a religious test is unfair enough - to apply it to the voters is divisive, degrading and wholly unwarranted.

  John F. Kennedy

  Religious, Catholic, Mind

• I would not look with favor upon a President working to subvert the First Amendment's guarantees of religious liberty ... Neither do I look with favor upon those who would work to subvert Article VI of the Constitution by requiring a religious test - even by indirection.

  John F. Kennedy

  Religious, Atheism, President

  Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, delivered 12 September 1960 at the Rice Hotel in Houston, TX

• I am flatly opposed to appointment of an ambassador to the Vatican. Whatever advantages it might have in Rome - and I'm not convinced of these - they would be more than offset by the divisive effect at home.

  John F. Kennedy

  Home, Rome, Atheism

• I believe the American people are more concerned with a man's views and abilities than with the church to which he belongs. I believe the founding fathers meant it when they provided in Article VI of the Constitution that there should be no religious test for public office. And I believe that the American people mean to adhere to those principles today.

  John F. Kennedy

  Religious, Father, Believe

You May Also Like:

Jackie Kennedy

Robert Kennedy

Abraham Lincoln

Lee Harvey Oswald

Lyndon B. Johnson

Richard M. Nixon

Caroline Kennedy