WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A former aid to John F. Kennedy says the former U.S. president's views on religion in public life were different from those of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
Theodore Sorensen, who helped then-Senator Kennedy draft a speech on his Catholic beliefs during the 1960 campaign, said the views outlined by the first Catholic president on the role of religion in government and public life are drastically different from those described by Romney, a Republican and former governor of Massachusetts, during a Thursday address that focused on his Mormon faith, CNN reported Friday.
"JFK wanted to particularly stress that he believed in the separation between church and state," Sorensen said. "He believed ... that freedom of religion included freedom for those to go to any church or not to go to any church at all. So, Romney emphasized the role of religion in public life more strongly than JFK did or would have."
"Romney felt compelled for some reason to define his personal views of Jesus Christ," he said. "Kennedy said ... his personal views of religion were totally his business and not the business of the American people.
However, Sorensen offered his congratulations to Romney on the speech.
"It was a pretty good speech," he said. "I think he touched all the bases he wanted to touch."
