April 28, 2005

Gee, Why Was This Person Held Up In Committee?

A wrongwingnut judge expressing religious views from behind the bench? Funny how that whole judicial activism thing is okay as long as it's the correct (in some minds) form of activism:

Faith 'War' Rages in U.S., Judge Says. Apparently Justice Janice Rogers Brown (who would have been blue-slipped under previous Publican rules. Conveniently, those rules have now been scrapped because they might allow Democrats to block judicial nominations the way Publicans used to when they weren't making the nominations themselves) was a little miffed that she couldn't speak on her God's behalf at the Just Us Justice Sunday rally for faith-based government. So she found another bunch of theofascists to address:

California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown told an audience Sunday that people of faith were embroiled in a "war" against secular humanists who threatened to divorce America from its religious roots

[snip]

"There seems to have been no time since the Civil War that this country was so bitterly divided. It's not a shooting war, but it is a war," she said, according to a report published Monday in the Stamford Advocate.

"These are perilous times for people of faith," she said, "not in the sense that we are going to lose our lives, but in the sense that it will cost you something if you are a person of faith who stands up for what you believe in and say those things out loud."

[snip]

"When we move away from that, we change our whole conception of the most significant idea that America has to offer, which is this idea of human freedom and this notion of liberty," she said.

She added that atheism "handed human destiny over to the great god, autonomy, and this is quite a different idea of freedom…. Freedom then becomes willfulness."

Brown's remarks drew praise Monday from one of the nation's most prominent evangelical leaders, Gary Bauer

[snip]

Brown's comments came at a breakfast following the Red Mass, an annual spring gathering of lawyers, judges and other legal professionals sponsored by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn.

In previous years, speakers at the diocese's breakfast have included former appellate Judge Robert Bork, whose nomination to the Supreme Court was defeated by the Senate in 1987, and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Two religious leaders who heard Brown speak Sunday had only praise. The Rev. Michael R. Moynihan, pastor of a church in Greenwich, Conn., and an organizer of the Red Mass, said he was impressed with Brown.

"She caused all of us to reflect more profoundly on the intersection between law and morality, and on the role of religion in shaping those virtues and values, which are crucial to our democratic way of life," said Bishop William E. Lori, the head of the Bridgeport diocese, who invited Brown to address the group.

First of all, why are these people still enabled to tax-free status when they are clearly proselytizing for the Publican party?

Secondly: the rest of us better get a copy of that faith-based constitution one of these days. You know, the one where it says that America is based on religious beliefs, and that this country is a Judeo-Christian nation? The one where it's okay to say that God's law (which is what exactly again? And which God's laws are we talking about here?) is the basis for United States law? The one where judges let their religious prejudices determine whether someone is guilty or innocent? We can't seem to find any of that dren in the copy of the Constitution we got to read.

These are perilous times for people of faith. They are being seduced by blasphemous pseudo-religious snakeoil salespeople promoting vengeance and retribution for those who do not agree with them. Not to mention any newly nominated theofascist circuit court judges, or anything like that...

Posted by (: Tom :) at April 28, 2005 06:17 AM