A Feb. 2 Boston Globe article publicly revealed the Jewish ancestry of 2004 presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Prior to this revelation, most voters and media had assumed that Kerry had Irish-Catholic roots. We hope both the media and voters find this new information uninteresting.Kerry said he learned 15 years ago that his paternal grandmother was born Jewish (she later converted to Roman Catholicism), but only discovered that his paternal grandfather was also Jewish after the Globe did a detailed genealogy and revealed this fact to him.

While Kerry does have a fascinating family history, it is disturbing that there has been international media coverage of his ancestry. In 1960, voters elected John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic president, following a flurry of press about the religious issue, with some even questioning whether he was more loyal to the Pope or the U.S. government.

It is sad that over 40 years later the American public and media still cannot look past religion as a political issue. Considering Kerry to be a Jew would be incorrect, seeing as he is a practicing Catholic who has never identified himself as Jewish.

We appreciate that Kerry is interested in discovering his multicultural background, but one inane ancestral detail is hardly relevant to his politics. Media coverage of the cultural roots of a presidential candidate should not overshadow his political views, as it has for Kerry this past week.