(Via Josh Marshall), Andrew Sullivan quotes JFK:

"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute -- 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."

Sullivan adds his two cents:

At the time, the speech was regarded as an attempt to refute anti-Catholic prejudice. Today, wouldn't the theocons regard it as an expression of anti-Catholic prejudice? Wouldn't Bill Frist see president Kennedy as an enemy of "people of faith"? Just asking.

Yes, let's go back to those secular, church-state separated '60s:

- Democrats, including Jesse Jackson, Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie steadfastly opposed abortion rights;

- Politicians, including Ronald Reagan, were considered political invalids for the unforgivable act of getting divorced;

- A top aide to LBJ, Walter Jenkins, was fired and written off as "unstable" for seeking out non-heterosexual acts on his own time.

Thankfully, for Sullivan, it's been more than 200 years since raging theocrats shamelessly made political speeches that said things like this: "Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ?"

The speaker? George Washington.

For all the handwringing going on about a Republican effort to create a conservative, Christian-run religious government, the leader of the Republican Party is still President Bush, whose policy is this:

...(W)e strongly believe in the separation of church and state here in Washington, D.C., and that's the way it's going to be. Secondly, I love the fact that people are able to worship freely in our country, and if you chose not to worship, you're just as patriotic as your neighbor. Freedom of religion means freedom to practice any religion you choose, or the freedom not to practice.

Fonzie is adjusting his water skis.