While running for president in 1960, John F. Kennedy felt compelled to confront those who decried his Catholicism and claimed his religion would dictate his actions as president.

In a speech to Southern Baptist leaders, Sen. Kennedy told them, "I believe in an America... where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials — and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all."
 
In the more than 45 years since President Kennedy spoke those words, it has been clear that America is a country in which religions flourish. Many of us are deeply committed to the religion we practice. Our faith informs many aspects of our lives. As Americans, we all share the common right, so beautifully enshrined in the Constitution by our Founding Fathers, to practice our religion or to have no religion whatsoever.

Despite this tradition, we are seeing efforts to break down the important wall separating church and state: in the courts, in the schools, in the halls of government and in the public square.

Two major stories, while not in and of themselves direct challenges, have recently shaped and informed the ongoing public discussion.

The first was the trial in a federal court in Pennsylvania, where proponents of teaching intelligent design alongside the theory of evolution in science class were handed a stunning defeat. U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III rightly found that intelligent design was not science but a religious viewpoint that advances "a particular version of Christianity."

This decision was clearly an important victory for public schoolchildren. But it has not deterred the well-financed organizations that continue their advocacy of such intrusions of religion into public institutions.

Another controversy was last year's story on the religious climate at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. In the wake of serious allegations that a persistent pattern of religious intolerance existed at the academy, an investigation found that change was necessary.

Among the concerns outlined were the aggressive proselytizing by some cadets, faculty members introducing themselves as "born-again Christians" and prayers at mandatory ceremonies and meals. The report said Christian cadets routinely were given special permission to attend off-campus prayer services on Sundays, while Jews were refused similar accommodation for their Sabbath.

Now that there has been an acknowledgement of the problem by senior Air Force officials, it falls to the Department of Defense and Congress to ensure that the report's recommendations on religious accommodation are implemented.

Yet there has been a backlash — both from within the military Establishment itself and from some members of Congress who believe that, in the words of one representative: "Praying in the name of Jesus is a fundamental part of Christian belief, and to suppress this form of expression would be a violation of religious freedom." Seventy representatives wrote last year to President Bush defending the right of military chaplains to use specifically Christian language in public prayers. So it remains an open question as to whether the report's recommendations will be implemented and, if so, whether they will apply to all of the Armed Services, or just the Academy.

Hardly a day goes by that some preacher or politician doesn't state that all he or she wants is to bring America back to the Founding Fathers' intent to build a Christian America.

Groups on the Christian Right would coerce Americans to subscribe to a narrow perspective that would result in exclusion — practically and psychologically — for Jews, for other religious minorities, for non-believers and even for many Christians who choose to worship in their own fashion.

We must continue to protect the separation of church and state.

The wisdom of those who founded this nation has enabled diverse faiths to flourish and allowed a marvelous diversity to enrich our society. The values we should all share are not Christian values or Jewish values or Muslim values. They are American values.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.