I wrote in July 2021:
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Religions, Roe v Wade, and the First Amendment.
WikiPedia has much to offer, under the heading Separation of Church and State. My extracts:
The separation of church and state is a philosophic and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state.
the exact phrase "separation of church and state" is derived from "wall of separation between church and state", a term coined by Thomas Jefferson.'
The arm's length principle proposes a relationship wherein the two political entities interact as organizations each independent of the authority of the other.
Separately (;-)), under the heading Separation of church and state in the United States, Wikipedia contributes:
"Separation of church and state" is paraphrased from Thomas Jefferson and used by others in expressing an understanding of the intent and function of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"
My understanding of the above is that anyone in the US may exercise his/her religion according to the tenets of that religion, whatever it may be. As a teenager, I attended a seminar on Comparative Religions. The discussion centered on the three main Abrahamitic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I am not a spiritual leader in any of these. My statements are from my memory of that seminar, are not judgmental and I am open to recalibration for anything I got wrong.
Divorce: Catholicism says not at all. Judaism says if the marriage doesnt work out, then the partners may divorce. If the wife remarries and gets divorced from the second husband, she may never remarry the first husband. Islam allows divorce, but remarriage to the original husband is not allowed, unless and until she has remarried someone else and been divorced from him.
Pregnancy: Catholicism is strict; if a womans health or life is in danger due to her pregnancy, she must carry to term, even if she dies in childbirth. Judaism regards such a situation as if the child is an attacker on her life, and may be treated as a burglar or a robber, and the pregnancy may be terminated since, when she recovers, she may try again to have a normal pregnancy. I dont remember anything about the attitude of Islam to such a situation. Thus I searched, and found, on the BMC Medical Ethics site, the following:
In Islam, and most religions, abortion is forbidden. Islam is considerably liberal concerning abortion, which is dependent on (i) the threat of harm to mothers, (ii) the status of the pregnancy before or after ensoulment (on the 120th day of gestation), and (iii) the presence of foetal anomalies that are incompatible with life. Considerable variation in religious edicts exists, but most Islamic scholars agree that the termination of a pregnancy for foetal anomalies is allowed before ensoulment, after which abortion becomes totally forbidden, even in the presence of foetal abnormalities; the exception being a risk to the mothers life or confirmed intrauterine death.
Thus we see that there are considerable differences in opinion and in practice across only these three branches of one tree. But one of those branches has, according to http://www.livescience.com correspondent Donavyn Coffee, who writes on February 27, 2021: the global body of more than 2 billion Christians is separated into thousands of denominations. Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Apostolic, Methodist the list goes on. Estimations show there are more than 200 Christian denominations in the U.S. and a staggering 45,000 globally, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity."
I quoted only the Catholic stance, at the time of that long-ago seminar. Presumably, there are 45,000 shades of opinion, as to what is the correct path. This, too, is understandable. If one reads the verse in Exodus 33:20: for no man shall see My face and live . , we must accept that no two people can have the same image of the Almighty.
Of course, an atheist would make a personal choice. I have no knowledge of Eastern religions nor their practices, but ALL have complete freedom of choice in the US, to observe according to their backgrounds, under "Separation of church and state.
Now, we know that there have always been backyard abortions, always very risky for women who felt they needed to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, and Roe v Wade was passed in January 1973, to protect the lives of these unfortunate women in their difficult decisions: The Constitutional Right to Access Safe, Legal Abortion. It was not, as I understand it, based on any religion. Thus I find it OFFENSIVE that there are considerable numbers of people in the US, both lawmakers and ordinary citizens, who have taken it upon themselves to impose their particular RELIGIOUS ideas upon others, who may not be subject to the same religious rules.
Even Supreme Court Justices have expressed a desire to overturn Roe v Wade, after 48 years of legal precedent. This would be the ultimate travesty. As it is, multiple state laws already limit access to legal termination of pregnancies, based on RELIGIOUS views, which fly in the face of "Separation of church and state. These existing laws should be rolled back, since they have been passed under WHOSE authority?
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Today, the ultimate travesty has become the law of the land:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Is the U.S. Supreme Court the same as Congress?
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the land and the only part of the federal judiciary specifically required by the Constitution. The Constitution does not stipulate the number of Supreme Court Justices; the number is set instead by Congress.
Under McConnell and Trump, the Court has been packed. The most obvious results thereof are yesterdays decision on making open carry of guns easier; and todays decision to overturn Roe v Wade. So, where do we go from here? Add five extra liberal judges? And what will the GOP do when they get back into power?
I have a suggestion that has a three thousand year biblical precedent:
Since we have a legal system loosely based on our Judeo-Christian heritage, we should look at the biblical judicial system makeup.
There is the concept of a congregation, or a quorum; a legal entity of at least ten. Why ten? In the disastrous case of the 12 spies, all leaders, sent to evaluate what the Promised Land could/would offer, when the freed slaves left Egypt, only two (Joshua and Caleb) came back with a positive report. The remaining ten (this evil congregation) brought back a report that was SO negative, that it led to a huge protest Why did you bring us into the wilderness to die? Were there not enough graves for us in Egypt? Lets go back; we had it better there (as slaves).
As a result of this negativity, the descendants of Jacob were condemned to spend a full forty years in the Wilderness (a year for each day that the spies were on their tour), until ALL the protesters that left Egypt, had died out. (Only Joshua and Caleb of their generation, eventually entered the Holy Land).
There were three levels of courts in Biblical Times: three judges, twenty three, or the Full Sanhedrin of seventy one experienced judges. In all cases, the courts were not regarded as legitimate, unless they were comprised of an odd number of judges. This was to avoid an impasse, by having an equal number vote Innocent or Guilty. The full Sanhedrin interpreted matters of Biblical Law, whereas the smaller courts bodies dealt with matters of lesser import.
A court of three was considered competent to judge monetary cases. That of twenty three adjudicated cases involving life and death decisions, so that there would be at least a quorum to decide on a death sentence. Similarly, there should be at least a quorum to decide NOT to put a person to death.
Experienced judges would know the law in great depth, and their individual outlooks would not be allowed to influence their deliberations. (Psalm 82: Until when will you judge lawlessly and favor the presence of the wicked? . Judge the needy and the orphan, vindicate the poor and the impoverished. Rescue the needy and destitute; from the hand of the wicked deliver them)
Contrast all this with the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). Power corrupts; total power corrupts absolutely! stated by English historian Lord Acton (18341902) in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton.
Thus, comparing our SCOTUS to the biblical courts, it has no standing to decide matters of life and death - it is not large enough. In addition, the fact that fully five of the current nine LIED in their investigatory interviews. Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett. They ALL referred to Roe v. Wade as established precedent. The last three were recommended by the Federalist Society, whose agenda is anti-abortion, and all three names were pushed to the ex-President by the WIFE of the longest sitting Justice, Clarence Thomas, as ALL being prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade. All five should be impeached, AND should lose their law licences. They will ALL have blood on their hands.
The Supreme Court, in the year 2022, will go down in history as The Corrupt Roberts Supreme Court.
"Hierosolyma Est Perdita", Latin, meaning "Jerusalem is lost, a term that gained notoriety in the German anti-Semitic Hep hep riots of August to October 1819. Today. the parallel thought is America Est Perdita!
To state a conclusion to this diary, Supreme Court Justices should no longer be chosen or confirmed by politicians. This SCOTUS should be dissolved, and a new court of twenty three EXPERT judges should be appointed by the body of experienced jurists of the United States. Justices should be chosen on the basis of their lack of bias, and to make their judgements to benefit the vast majority of the people of this country.
View post:
The Death of Roe v Wade - the Bloodied Hands of the Federalists. - Daily Kos
