Don't Vote For A Roman Catholic
Last year at one of the political conventions a Roman Catholic was almost nominated as a candidate for Vice President of the United States. That same man is already being "talked" as a major possibility for his party's candidate for president in 1960. A member of the national committee said in May, that he strongly favors Mr. John Kennedy for the office, and that although Mr. Kennedy is a Roman Catholic he does not believe that by 1960 his religion will be a factor.
In 1955, David Lawrence, in an editorial in U. S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, urged the nomination of Governor Lauche, of Ohio, for the presidency. Mr. Lauche is a Catholic. Lawrence said that the Democratic Party must not let itself be influenced by the supposed power of an outworn "'religious issue."
Let it be devoutly hoped that the "religious issue" is not as outworn as Mr. Lawrence thinks. But let it be understood that this hope is NOT uttered in a spirit of bigotry or intolerance. It is uttered because of the realization that Roman Catholicism is more than a religion. It is a political power. If Catholic pressure groups can now influence some of our high-ranking non-Catholic leaders in government to the point that they kowtow to them as they do, what WOULD happen with a Catholic president!
The Catholic Church demands freedom of worship for herself, but denies it to others when she has the power. She cries "persecution" in countries where she is not in the majority, and in countries where she is powerful she crushes relentlessly all other religious sects. Consider Spain as an example. Alexander Stewart in CONVERTED CATHOLIC reports the following from a publication TIDINGS FROM SPAIN: "Protestants are still liable to fine or imprisonment or both, if they distribute gospel literature, or speak to a neighbor about the gospel, or ever gather in their own house to worship God."
In fact, the Roman Church is on record as claiming the right to suppress, by force if necessary, all whom they consider heretics. Ryan and Boland (both Catholics) in their hook CATHOLIC PRINCIPLES OF POLITICS, say that if the United States should ever become sufficiently Catholic, our Constitution would be changed to insure "political proscription" of all who are not Catholics.
Remember, the Pope claims both religious AND civil authority over the world. Do you believe a Catholic president would help the Pope to control our country?
Already there are signs that the Pope is growing bolder in his attack. Consider the following thought-provoking sentences by Dee Smith in the October issue of CONVERTED CATHOLIC: "It is not long since our news-prints carried an item concerning a directive of the Pope to American Catholic judges which makes clear that in any case involving an interest of the Roman Church the judge is under moral compulsion, as a Catholic, to rule in the church's favor.
"Somewhat later, a similar directive to a convention of Roman Catholic employees of public libraries meeting in New York, pointed out their moral responsibility for doing everything in their power to exclude from public library shelves literature 'detrimental' to the church. That is, any work, historical or otherwise, which might alert the Protestant world to the menace of Vatican domination, is to be suppressed."
Elsewhere in his article Mr. Smith asks: "Can one wonder then that American Protestants hesitate apprehensively before marking a cross on the ballot which will delegate authority over their lives and welfare to the proponents of such beliefs!" — The Lightbearer.