ABC News

GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said today that watching John F. Kennedy's speech to the Baptist ministers in Houston in 1960 made him want to "throw up."

"To say that people of faith have no role in the public square?  You bet that makes you throw up.  What kind of country do we live that says only people of non-faith can come into the public square and make their case?" Santorum said.

"That makes me throw up and it should make every American who is seen from the president, someone who is now trying to tell people of faith that you will do what the government says, we are going to impose our values on you, not that you can't come to the public square and argue against it, but now we're going to turn around and say we're going to impose our values from the government on people of faith, which of course is the next logical step when people of faith, at least according to John Kennedy, have no role in the public square," he said.

Santorum also said he does not believe in an America where the separation of church and state is "absolute."

"I don't believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.  The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country," said Santorum. "This is the First Amendment.  The First Amendment says the free exercise of religion.  That means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square.  Kennedy for the first time articulated the vision saying, no, 'faith is not allowed in the public square.  I will keep it separate.'  Go on and read the speech 'I will have nothing to do with faith.  I won't consult with people of faith.'  It was an absolutist doctrine that was foreign at the time of 1960," he said.