Thomas J. Reese

Thomas J. Reese

Senior fellow Woodstock Theological Center, Jesuit priest

As editor of the Catholic weekly magazine "America" (americamagazine.org), Rev. Thomas J. Reese promoted discussion on current issues facing the Catholic Church and the world. The "On Faith" panelist is author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church. Father Reese is frequently quoted as an expert on Catholic issues. He is a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, where he is working on religion and politics. Besides his theological training as a Jesuit priest, he has a doctorate in political science from the University of California Berkeley. He once worked as a lobbyist for tax reform. Close.

Thomas J. Reese

Senior fellow Woodstock Theological Center, Jesuit priest

As editor of the Catholic weekly magazine "America" (americamagazine.org), Rev. Thomas J. Reese promoted discussion on current issues facing the Catholic Church and the world. The "On Faith" panelist is author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church. He is frequently quoted as an expert on Catholic issues. more »

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Vote for Cicero

Under the U.S. Constitution and laws, all religions should be treated the same by the government. Paganism should be treated just like any other religion even when it comes to chaplains.

Does that mean that every military base must have a pagan chaplain? No. It would be entirely legitimate for the military to have some religiously neutral, pragmatic regulation that requires there be a certain number of adherents before a chaplain is assigned to a base.

Sadly history shows that there were times that Christians persecuted pagans, and there were times when pagans persecuted Christians. Hopefully we are beyond that today. Certainly since Vatican II, the Catholic Church has acknowledged religious freedom as a right for all people.

With regards to voting, I am less interested in whether a candidate agrees with me on theology than whether he or she agrees with me on public policy. Our founding fathers had a great respect for the Roman republic. I like them would be very tempted to vote for a pagan like Cicero if he were running for office today.

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