Pope Francis Quotes
The Pope doesn't get mixed up in Italian politics.
Francis, Pope. "In-Flight Press Conference of His Holiness Pope Francis from Mexico to Rome." Vatican.va, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 17 Feb. 2016.
Later in his career the priest ignored this earlier admonition and campaigned virulently against Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal and even helped found a political party. The Priest was the right wing demagogic radio host of his day. Virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Black, he was threatened with excommunication by the Catholic Church, which finally ordered him to cease us weekly radio show and stop the political hate.
Spinoza’s ideas were considered so radical and dangerous that he was the only man in history who was excommunicated by the Catholics, the Jews and the Muslims. This quotation, in the 17th century outraged almost every cleric. This is one of the strongest and unequivocal statements about the desirability of separation of church and state. Interestingly, as early as this statement was, Spinoza believed that harm extended to both religion and government.
The Senate was presented with James Madison’s Language for the First Amendment. These three alternatives were proposed and rejected. The rejected versions turn out to have been very important. Some have argued that the First Amendment does not prohibit Congress making laws regarding religion as long as it doesn’t favor one religion over another—for example pay for clerics of all religions. However, that was the third proposal and it was rejected in favor of the high wall of separation proposed by Madison.
Religious organizations may become grantees or contractors to perform various social services—along with other non-profit organizations provided, that they do not comingle the government contract money with the general church funds, that the services that are provided are provided to all regardless of religious beliefs, and that there is no religious ceremony or indoctrination in the provision of services. Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army are two of the larger religious organizations that receive government funds for general service provision. Those religions who do not want Federal Auditors reviewing their use of the money or who insist that prayer is a necessary aspect of the social services are the ones who have trouble and accuse the government of being hostile to religious social services.
Of all the Western Colonial Powers, Spain was the worst. They took the most from their possessions and contributed the least. Worst, they killed off almost all the indigenous people.
This is a critical quotation on the government establishment of religion issue. There are a few people who have argued over the years that the Founding Fathers and their culture was religious and where they were careful to avoid favoring one religion over another, they did NOT intend to put atheism on the same equal plane as religion as far as government action is concerned. However, some of the Founding Fathers were atheists, and some others like John Adams were deists—they believed in a God but not in the Trinity or in Judaism or any organized religion. So this quotation makes it clear that the First Amendment does NOT favor religion over non religion or secularism. Atheism must be on an equal footing but not on a higher plane.
Pope Francis is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. Francis is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first pope from outside Europe since Gregory III, a Syrian who reigned in the 8th century.
