Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial AssociationJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy: Address to theGreater Houston Ministerial Associationdelivered 12 September 1960
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Reverend Meza, Reverend Reck, I'm grateful for your generous invitation to state myviews.
While the so-called religious issue is necessarily and properly the chief topic here tonight, I発

端want to emphasize from the outset that I believe that we have far more critical issues in theわだ かまる

1960 campaign; the spread of Communist influence, until it now festers only 90 miles from屈辱的なthe coast of Florida -- the humiliating treatment of our President and Vice President by
those who no longer respect our power -- the hungry children I saw in West Virginia, theold people who cannot pay their doctors bills, the families forced to give up their farms -- an
America with too many slums, with too few schools, and too late to the moon and outerspace. These are the real issues which should decide this campaign. And they are notreligious issues -- for war and hunger and ignorance and despair know no religious barrier.
But because I am a Catholic, and no Catholic has ever been elected President, the real issues
不明瞭

in this campaign have been obscured

部署-- perhaps deliberately, in some quarter s lessresponsible than this. So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again -- not whatkind of church I believe in, for that should be important only to me -- but what kind ofAmerica I believe in.
I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute; where no司教

Catholic prelate would tell the President -- should he be Catholic -- how to act, and no
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教区民

Protestant minister would tell his parishioner s for whom to vote; where no church orchurch school is granted any public funds or political preference, and where no man isdenied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might
appoint him, or the people who might elect him.
I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no
public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, theキリスト教会全国協議会

NationalCouncil

教会のof Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious
民衆body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the publicI

Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association
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acts of its officials, and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one
church is treated as an act against all.
For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in
クェイカー教徒

ユニテリアン派

other years it has been -- and may someday be again -- a Jew, or a Quaker, or a Unitarian,
バプティスト派

迫害説

教者

or a Baptist . It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers , for example, that led to
信教自由法

Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today, I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may組

織

引き裂かれる

be you -- until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped apart at a time ofgreat national peril.
不寛

容Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end, where allmen and all churches are treated as equals, where every man has the same right to attend ornot to attend the church of his choice, where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote,
信徒のno bloc voting of any kind, and where Catholics, Protestants, and Jews, at both the lay and聖 職 者 の控える

軽蔑

the pastoral levels, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have損

なう

so often marred

their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal ofbrotherhood.
That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in貶

める道具which I believe, a great office that must be neither humbled by making it the instrumentof any religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding it -- its occupancy from themembers of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose views on religion are hisown private affair, neither imposed upon him by the nation, nor imposed by the nation
upon him (NOTE) as a condition to holding that office.
覆す修

正条

項I would not look with favor upon a President working to subvert the first amendment 'sguarantees of religious liberty; nor would our system of checks and balances permit him to憲 法 六 条

do so. And neither do I look with favor upon those who would work to subvert Article VI of
信 教 審 査the Constitution by requiring a religious test, even by indirection. For if they disagree with
撤 回 す るthat safeguard, they should be openly working to repeal it.
行 政 府 の 長

I want a Chief Executive whose public acts are responsible to all and obligated to none,
儀式

who can attend any ceremony, service, or dinner his office may appropriately require of him
to fulfill; and whose fulfillment of his Presidential office is not limited or conditioned by any
religious oath, ritual, or obligation.

IIAddress to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association
This is the kind of America I believe in -- and this is the kind of America I fought for in theSouth Pacific, and the kind my brother died for in Europe. No one suggested then that wemight have a divided loyalty, that we did not believe in liberty, or that we belonged to a
不実

なdisloyal group that threatened -- I quote -- "the freedoms for which our forefathers died."
逃れるAnd in fact this is the kind of America for which our forefathers did die when they fled
免れる

here to escape religious test oaths that denied office to members of less favored churches -ヴァージニア

信教自由法

when they fought for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Virginia Statute of Religious
聖地

ア ラ モ 砦

Freedom -- and when they fought at the shrine I visited today, the Alamo. For side by sidewith Bowie and Crockett died Fuentes, and McCafferty, and Bailey, and Badillo, and Carey-- but no one knows whether they were Catholics or not. For there was no religious test
there.
I ask you tonight to follow in that tradition -- to judge me on the basis of 14 years in theCongress, on my declared stands against an Ambassador to the Vatican, against
違憲の教

区

学校

unconstitutional aid to parochial schools, and against any boycott of the public schools -which I attended myself. And instead of doing this, do not judge me on the basis of thesepamphlets and publications we all have seen that carefully select quotations out of context
from the statements of Catholic church leaders, usually in other countries, frequently in
欠 い て い る

other centuries, and rarely relevant to any situation here. And always omitting , of course,
支 持 す るthe statement of the American Bishops in 1948 which strongly endorse d Church-Stateseparation and which more nearly reflects the views of almost every American Catholic.
I do not consider these other quotations binding upon my public acts. Why should you?
But let me say, with respect to other countries, that I am wholly opposed to the State being
迫害するused by any religious group, Catholic or Protestant, to compel, prohibit, or prosecute the迫害

free exercise of any other religion. And that goes for any persecution, at any time, by anyone,
糾弾する

熱 烈 さin any country. And I hope that you and I condemn with equal fervor those nations which
deny their Presidency to Protestants, and those which deny it to Catholics. And rather than
引き合いに出すcite

the misdeeds of those who differ, I would also cite the record of the Catholic

Church in such nations as France and Ireland, and the independence of such statesmen as
De Gaulle and Adenauer.
強調する

But let me stress again that these are my views.

IIIAddress to the Greater Houston Ministerial AssociationFor contrary to common newspaper usage, I am not the Catholic candidate for President.
たまたま～であるI am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic.
I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me.
Whatever issue may come before me as President, if I should be elected, on birth control,
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検閲

divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject, I will make my decision in accordance
良心with these views -- in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national
指図interest, and without regard to outside religious pressure or dictate s. And no power or懲

罰

他 の や り 方threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise.
譲 歩 す る

But if the time should ever come -- and I do not concede any conflict to be remotely
possible -- when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate thenational interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant
同様にwould do likewise.
But I do not intend to apologize for these views to my critics of either Catholic or Protestant
否 認 す るfaith; nor do I intend to disavow either my views or my church in order to win thiselection.
～に通じないIf I should lose on the real issues, I shall return to my seat in the Senate, satisfied that I'dtried my best and was fairly judged.
But if this election is decided on the basis that 40 million Americans lost their chance of
洗礼を受ける

being President on the day they were baptized, then it is the whole nation that will be theloser, in the eyes of Catholics and non-Catholics around the world, in the eyes of history,
and in the eyes of our own people.
But if, on the other hand, I should win this election, then I shall devote every effort of mind
全 く 同 じ のand spirit to fulfilling the oath of the Presidency -- practically identical, I might add, with差 し 控 え る こ とthe oath I have taken for 14 years in the Congress. For without reservation, I can, “solemnlyswear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will tothe best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution -- so help me God.

NOTE: Kennedy meant to say “neither imposed by him upon the nation, nor imposed bythe nation upon him”.

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