Creeping theocracy
Two thirds of the Supreme Court is Catholic: six of the nine. And they’re not kidding. Joe Biden and five justices attended the “Red Mass” the day before the new term of the court.
The mass is a Catholic service, but power brokers of other faiths are asked to attend the invitation-only event. Critics have called the attendance of leading decision-makers, including members of the highest court in the land, inappropriate.
Oh, what’s the harm – it’s just a bit of incense and some pious mumbling.
A Vatican archbishop told the VP and 5 of the 9 justices
that laws are based upon certain principles: “the pursuit of the common good through respect for the natural law, the dignity of the human person, the inviolability of innocent life from conception to natural death, the sanctity of marriage, justice for the poor, protection of minors, and so on.”Di Noia later decried a trend toward “exclusive humanism” and said, “That innocent human life is now so broadly under threat has seemed to many of us one of the signs of this growing peril.”
So…….involuntary pregnancy, no divorce, no gay marriage, no rights for women……..
Well, at least Ginzburg can see what’s going on.
One member of the court who no longer attends is Ruth Bader Ginsburg who, like Breyer and Kagan, is Jewish. Ginsburg has said she grew tired of being lectured by Catholic officials.
“I went one year, and I will never go again, because this sermon was outrageously anti-abortion,” Ginsburg said in the book “Stars of David: Prominent Jews talk About Being Jewish” by author Abigail Pogrebin.
But Catholic officials go right ahead and lecture the other justices and the vice president, of what is supposed to be a secular country.
Bad.
I find it odd that it’s Catholics in a way. Not that Catholics aren’t authoritarian, power lusting types, far from it. I just always get the impression, probably because I’m so far away in these here antipodes, that the US is a mostly fundagelical place. Lots of southern baptists, mormons and talking in tongue types, all getting elected and screwing with school boards, decrying socialist measures like free health care, and the like.
Biden and the justices: Son of a bitch, I have to go to that thing again.
Archbishop Di Noia: This is so welcome, given what we’ve been through lately. You can almost imagine how it used to be, when we held real power.
Of theocracy, I’m not too worried. The people with power are anxious to convey their religiosity, but I don’t think they’re ready to yield to the priests.
It’s all right if you’re unwilling to acknowledge Karl Rove’s atheism.
This must be a new policy of the catholic church.
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Why do I think that that “justice for the poor” will be the one item on the list that Scalia, Alito, Thomas and Roberts will be happy to ignore, and suffer no pressure from the Church over ?
This is the single biggest thing that scares me about the possibility of Perry v. Schwarzenegger hitting SCOTUS within a couple of years. Otherwise I’d be convinced of it going well.
Brian —
The strategy of the Republicans has been to appoint Catholics to the Supreme Court because they can be presented as moderates from outside the fundamentalist power group and yet pursue the fundamentalist agenda with regard to abortion, gay rights, anti-secularism and so forth. That is why 5 of the 9 judges are Catholic cf. only 24% of the general population.
Sorry, I meant 6 of the 9.
Chris, to quote Blackadder, ‘A plan so cunning that if you stuck a tail on it, it would be a Weasel.’
Lets not forget that Obama also appointed a Catholic, Sonia Sotomayor, to the Supreme Court.
I think it is wrong to think of things in strict percentage terms – Catholics are overrepresented in terms of their numbers in the population but far less so than Jews and I doubt that anyone here has much problem with the (current) Jewish members of the Supreme Court. Even Sotomayors ‘Catholicism’ isn’t likely to be a major issue (we hope) – the problem is the political viewpoint of the Justice in question and how far they are going to be influenced by this in their decisions. Don’t forget that there are SE Cupp type atheists out there that would go right along with the type of pro-religious policies that the conservative Catholic Justices seem to approve.
Ironically, lawyers and judges should not have religious or political views interfere with their judgements. This is somewhat difficult when judges have to rule over religious and political matters. But if there is a majority of judges with one particular religious view and one particular political view, then we have problems.
Also, while judges are free to worship whatever invisible dictator they want in their private life, not in public life nor in representing the state, otherwise that is a clear violation of secular principles.
I have much less problem with Jewish Supreme Court justices because “Jewish” doesn’t necessarily mean religious, in fact it’s entirely compatible with fully paid-up membership in The League of Strident Atheists. It really doesn’t even imply religious – in fact actually religious usually requires an adjective to make that clear. I think the default assumption with “Jewish” is that the meaning is “ethnic” rather than confessional.
With “Catholic,” not so much.
While I have, personally, very little riding on the composition of the US Supreme Court, I think it should be pointed out that catholics do not believe in an invisible dictator. They believe in a visible one! He speaks too! Right now he has the alias Benedict XVI, but in real life he is also known as Joseph Raztizinger. And if that’s not a problem, tell me one that is.
@Eric — They said that about JFK as well. In fact, he gave a great speech on the subject, IIRC.
@Eric
Very true, Catholics are realists not idealists. If they seriously believed in God, there would be no need for confession. And where is God when they’re doing their naughty evil abuses, obviously not watching.
[…] failed experiment? Will the future of homo sapiens be a new endarkenment where priests and mullahs rule over the ruined remnants of humanity and this planet, exterminating free thought and rationality in […]