Moderation

Fifty years ago there was an election issue about John Kennedy and his religion. The suspicion was that he would let his religion overcome his allegiance to the Constitution. He resolved it with a speech in Houston where he said – among other things: “I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me...” and that he would do what “…my conscience tells me to be in the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressure or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise.”
Kennedy was running for President and would obviously have had greater responsibilities than the average citizen. But is it too much to expect that every citizen will do what their conscience tells them?
The current public debate is about how people feel when Moslems get on the plane their taking and where mosques are built. The PC crowd wants it emphasized that it is the radical elements of Islam that are causing all the trouble, Islam is the religion of Peace, etc. But is it? Would Rauf or any of the “moderate” Islamic spokesmen say what Kennedy said? Their answer would clearly be a resounding “No”.