By contrast, Reagan is going out of his way to show that with him there is no separation of church and state.
He wants it known that there is a direct line between him and the Pope, that he seeks counsel from the Vatican City.
Reagan took the extraordinary step of inviting the Pope's ambassador, Pio Laghi, to his Santa Barbara ranch for consultation on delicate foreign policy questions....."
From ................. AMERICAN DEMOCRACY & THE VATICAN:
POPULATION GROWTH & NATIONAL SECURITY
By Dr. [Phd.] Stephen Mumford
[TABLE 1 at bottom]
from page 168-170
The Vatican vs. the Reagan Agenda
Few Americans realize that the Vatican and Reagan agendas are, despite minor disagreement, virtually identical. Let us look at the record.
Table I shows the Vatican and Reagan Administration positions on twenty-four of the most controversial issues of the past three years. It is difficult to find a single example of disagreement between them.
The president has made no secret of the fact that he calls on the pope for guidance in the governing of America. In chapter four, I have quoted his incredible statement before the National Catholic Education Association in April 1982:
"I am grateful for your help in shaping American policy to reflect God's will... and I will look forward to further guidance from His Holiness Pope John Paul II during an audience I will have with him in June."
After this one-hour private meeting at the Vatican on June 7, he said that the [Roman] Catholic Church
"pursues the same goals of peace, freedom, and humanity."
Reagan added that he wanted the U.S. governrnent
"to work closely with the [Roman] Church in Latin America.... to prevent the spread of repression and godless tyranny."
He also invited the pope to visit the United States again, saying,
"There is a great need for such a visit."
In May, they met in Alaska. In his March 8, 1983, speech before the National Association of Evangelicals, Reagan expressed himself in terms normally reserved for use by Catholic clergy:
"I urge you to beware of the temptation.... to ignore.... the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to.... thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil."
During a speech to a group of conservatives on February 18, 1983, Reagan made the statement that the attempted assassination of the pope was "an assault on God." Can it be that the president receives the words of the pope as if they were actually words or instructions direct from God?
On August 6, 1984, columnist Mary McGrory offered that Mr. Reagan comes on as more Catholic than the Pope:
Catholic issues seem to consume him ........ Reagan's motivation now seems to be his inability to tolerate the "oppression of the Church" to which the Pope has attested.... John Kennedy may be smiling somewhere at the sight of an American president wrapping himself in the arms of Holy Mother Church... By contrast, Reagan is going out of his way to show that with him there is no separation of church and state. He wants it known that there is a direct line between him and the Pope, that he seeks counsel from the Vatican City. Reagan took the extraordinary step of inviting the Pope's ambassador, Pio Laghi, to his Santa Barbara ranch for consultation on delicate foreign policy questions. 4 [emphasis added]
In a prepared address to an ecumenical prayer breakfast attended by twelve thousand religious leaders and delegates to the Republican National Convention, Mr. Reagan challenged the constitutional premise of separation of church and state.
"The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable, and as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related."
A report on this speech stated that "his remarks put him squarely in the camp of the fundamentalist religious right," implying that this is not consistent with the Vatican camp. However, the Reverend Virgil C. Blum, president and founder of the Milwaukee-based Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, endorsed Reagan's church and state sentiments.5
The truth is that Mr. Reagan is just giving his blessing to a reality. The Vatican has for decades ignored the constitutional premise of separation of church and state though this situation has worsened since the publication of the Pastoral Plan for Prolife Activities in 1975.
Columnist Mary McGrory, in an article on the unprecedented challenge to the archbishop of New York by Governor Mario Cuomo, frankly stated that for a Catholic politician to publicly oppose the wishes of an archbishop is political suicide. She pointed out that Cuomo is the first Catholic politician to pick a fight with a prelate and that "it is the conventional wisdom that no politician wins in a fight with the Catholic church." 6
The Major Difference Between the United States and Latin American Countries
The vast disparities between Latin America and the United States should not exist. Both were settled by Europeans at about the same time. Both are rich in resources. But where a democratic form of government grew out of the British experience, and among its North American possessions the principle of separation of church and state........ [end page 170]
page 169
TABLE 1
The Vatican and Reagan Administration Positions on Selected Issues _______________________________________________________
Position of ............................. Position of
Vatican .....................................Administration
l. Abortion ............................................anti .................................................anti
2. Equal Rights Amendment ....anti ..................................................anti
3. School prayer ..............................pro ...................................................pro
4. Domestic family planning ....anti ................................................anti
5. lnternational population
assistance.......anti ..............................................anti
6. Constitutional convention ...pro .................................................pro
7. Tuition tax credits (parochiaid) pro .......................................pro
8. Global 2000 Report .................anti..................................................anti
9. Kahn/Simon Report ..................pro ...................................................pro
lO. Environment ...............................anti ..................................................anti
11. Communism ........................ rabidly anti ........................... rabidly anti
12. Sex education ........................ anti ..................................................anti
13. Family planning
for teenaged youth .......anti .................................................. anti
14. Grenada invasion ....................pro ..................................................pro
15. U.S. military support for El Salvador and other Central
American governments ..pro ...............................................pro
16. U.S. military involvement
in Lebanon ................pro ...................................................pro
17. American hard line against
the Soviet Union ............pro .....................................................pro
18. United Nations and its
agencies ............................. anti ....................................................anti
19. Support of repressive governments
in Latin Arnerica ...........pro ......................................................pro
20. Population growth as a national
security threat .............anti .....................................................anti
21. Gay civil rights .................anti ......................................................anti
22. Federal aid
to public education .....anti ...................................................anti
23. Illegal immigration ...........pro .......................................... given the
administration's neglect, must be considered...........pro
24. Strict separation
of church and state .......anti ................................................anti
[end page 169] -END QUOTE-
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY & THE VATICAN:
POPULATION GROWTH & NATIONAL SECURITY
By Dr. [Phd.] Stephen Mumford
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 84-72500
Pub.by- Humanist Press PO Box 146 Amherst, NY
Availible [about $10] from-
Center for Research on Population and Security
PO Box 13067
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709