Written by Don Byrd
Former New York Governor and presidential candidate Mario Cuomo recently passed away. Among the many inspiring retrospectives about his politics and leadership is a Huffington Post piece on Cuomo’s view of religion’s role in public life, including his sharp take on the relationship between private beliefs and public policy.
[T]o assure our freedom we must allow others the same freedom, even if occasionally it produces conduct by them which we would hold to be sinful.” Governor Cuomo continued, “We know that the price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that they might some day force theirs on us.”
That passage is taken from a 1984 lecture Cuomo delivered at the University of Notre Dame. “Religious Belief and Public Morality: A Catholic Governor’s Perspective” is worth a read.
