Don’t we have important things to do?

As we approach the final days of summer, many people are focused on grabbing their last few vacation days. Regrettably, a handful of politicians, mostly Republicans, can’t seem to focus on anything other than religion and citizenship and how to tie it into the upcoming November election.

There is no doubt that the economy is still stagnant and that there are millions of people out of work. But instead of offering fresh ideas, some candidates for Congress and statewide office want to focus on whether President Obama is a Muslim or whether he was born in the United States, or whether there should be a mosque near the World Trade Center site.

To date, none of the candidates who harp on these issues has offered any proof that the president isn’t a U.S. citizen or that he’s a Muslim. There’s no doubt that the location of a Muslim facility near ground zero is a contentious matter, but a 9 percent unemployment rate affects a lot more people in this country.

For some strange reason, the religious preferences of presidents have been an issue since George Washington. It seems that Washington was closely connected to the Masonic movement, which raised questions as to whether he was a “true Christian.”

He was maligned by critics for taking the oath of office on a Masonic bible. To add insult to injury, revolutionary heroes such as Samuel Adams, John Paul Jones, Paul Revere and James Madison were linked to the Masons and therefore not considered part of the Christian nation.

President John Adams, an admitted atheist, lost his campaign for re-election based on his proclamation that there be two Thanksgiving days, and his anti-Catholic statements. The idea of a second Thanksgiving Day was not well received by the voting public.

Fast forward to John F. Kennedy’s first campaign. Kennedy was the first Catholic to ever seek to serve as president, and it was claimed that he would install the pope in the White House if elected. In a dramatic speech, Kennedy disavowed the idea and promised that his religion would never enter into his deliberations as president.