When his Roman Catholic faith was becoming a distraction during the 1960 election campaign, John F. Kennedy said "I am the Democratic Presidential candidate who happens to be a Catholic."
According to Kennedy, the focus of campaign should be "the hungry children I saw in West Virginia; the old people who cannot pay their doctor bills; the families forced to give up their farms; an America with too many slums, with too few schools, and too late to the moon and outer space."
He added: "These are the real issues which should decide this campaign. And they are not religious issues — for war and hunger and ignorance and despair know no religious barriers."
But at the end of the day, Kennedy went on record as one of the best performing US Presidents ever elected, thereby reinforcing the arguments that your religion, gender and ethnicity should not disqualify you for a public office.
Our overemphasis on people's religious faith, ethnicity or gender rather than their competence, experience and integrity borders on the ridiculous. The undue debate on the religion of Aisha Ahmad, the newly appointed CBN Deputy Governor is sickening.
We once had a case in one State where a so-called House of Assembly opposed the appointment of a woman as a court Judge because she was not married.
There are people who oppose women being appointed Chief Judges not because they are not qualified but because they think women are meant to obey and not qualified to lead.
Why should we be stuck in these retrograde thoughts that hold us back? Ethnic, religious and gender bigotries will take us nowhere. On the contrary, they hold us back from the path of progress.
By Na-Allah Mohammed Zagga
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