Church vs. State, Should It Be Re-Considered?

In this editorial by Jim Burkee, he discusses the revival of the issue based on the separation of church and state.  Candidate Rick Santorum is apparently an advocator for the “wall” between church and state to be removed and that the government should begin to intervene with religious affairs.  Santorum brought this debate back up when he discussed John F. Kennedy’s speech on the matter in which Kennedy supported the separation between church and state.  Santorum commented on this speech saying that it “makes me want to throw up” and that Kennedy “for the first time articulated the vision saying, ‘No. Faith is not allowed in the public square.’”  Burkee does not agree with Santorum in his views what so ever.   He says that Santorum had a “clear misreading of Kennedy’s statement” and that he “exposes a deeper misunderstanding by social conservatives of the exceptionalism of American church-state relations.”  I believe that Burkee is right in his disagreement with Santorum.  First off he poses an extremely legitimate claim.  Backing his argument with evidence and statistics to prove what Santorum has said was wrong.  My favorite is when he called Santorum on being “historically off by more than 150 years in his assertion that Kennedy was the first American president to advocate a wall between church and state.”  I find it interesting that the reporter on the matter knows more than the candidate who is giving speeches on the matter.  Burkee is obviously trying to reach out to his other fellow conservatives who agree with him on the matter as well as conservatives who may be leaning toward Sanotrum as a candidate to vote for.  His main argument that he poses is that religions do better when the state does not become involved in it’s affairs and he doesn’t understand why people, like himself, who are very religious and conservative, don’t understand that having the state interfere with their religious affairs will do more harm than good.    Burkee clearly knows his facts on this matter and has backed all his assertions and all of Santorums false assertions with substantial evidence, I think it makes a legitimate argument and whether you agree with him or not you should go look at the article for yourself at http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-burkee-wall-between-church-and-state-20120229,0,315661.story