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Religious tests for judges:
a step toward theocracy? |
Religion as a litmus test for judges?
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Stated Clerk calls on Frist
to avoid condemning people of faith |
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Legal views of Frist's "nuclear
option"
Gene TeSelle reports on a forum at
Vanderbilt's Law School concerning the so-called "nuclear option" for
the Senate, under which a parliamentary maneuver would bypass the
Senate's cloture rule and allow a majority vote on the President's
judicial nominees. The panel included two law professors and an
African-American minister.
The Republican strategy was criticised
as a politicization of the judicial confirmation process, and as
giving religious sanction to a partisan political tactic. |
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans to join with the
conservative Family Research Council, demanding support for judicial
nominees on grounds of religious and moral convictions.
[4-19-05]
Many religious groups object:
Faithful America asks "Has the
Religious Right fallen off the deep end?"
They provide an easy process for sending notes of concern to members of
Congress.
Interfaith Alliance President answers Frist attack on faithful Americans
Dr. C. Welton Gaddy calls on religious leaders and people of faith to oppose
"the religious right's blasphemous redefinition of religion and scary
redefinition of democracy." Gaddy's April 17th letter to Senate Majority
Leader William Frist warns that Sen. Frist and many leaders of the religious
right "appear unable to discern the difference between authentic faith and
partisan politics.... thus fostering a redefinition of religion that is
blasphemy and a redefinition of democracy that is scary."
Americans
United has posted a recording of comments by House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) to a
closed-door "Washington Briefing" held on March 17-19 by the Family Research
Council, a Washington-based Religious Right group. DeLay and Frist pledged
that Republican leaders in Congress would work to implement the Religious
Right’s controversial political agenda.
AU has also urged Frist to stay out of the April 24 TV event, with AU
executive director, the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, saying that "Sen. Frist should
disassociate himself from the Religious Right's unseemly and increasingly
shrill campaign to destroy the nation's independent judiciary. ... I am
appalled that Sen. Frist would lend his support to this attack on our court
system."
"The Theocrats"
On the tenth anniversary of Timothy McVeigh’s terrorist
action in slowing up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, William
Rivers Pitt reminds us that McVeigh came outof a rightist militia movement.
He continues:
"That breed of extremist was on the outside looking in at
the time. They have been replaced today by an extremist movement of
surpassing menace. Like the militias before them, this new breed likewise
represents the far-right flank of the GOP. Unlike their predecessors,
however, this new breed enjoys unprecedented insider status. They are
represented vigorously in Congress and the White House, and are calling many
of the shots."
Specifically right now, "Majority Leader Frist is teaming
up with the worst elements of the Theocrat armada in an attempt to paint
Democrats in Congress as 'anti-Christian,' the ultimate purpose of which is
to undo the generations-old recourse of the Congressional minority, the
filibuster."
Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun
urges: "Defend the Judiciary--and Counter the Right with a Progressive
Spiritual/Religious Left."
Background:
The
New York Times reported on April 15 on Frist’s planned TV
appearance. The teleconference, organized by the Family Research Council and
scheduled to originate at a Kentucky megachurch the evening of April 24,
will include some of the nation's most influential evangelical Protestants,
such as Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; Chuck Colson,
the born-again Watergate figure and founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries;
and Dr. Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
The Washington Post says this move is "beyond the pale."
"Reclaiming America for Christ"
The
Christian Science Monitor provides some general background on
evangelicals’ effort to "reclaim America for Christ." Their aim is not
simply to convert individuals, but to reshape US society.
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NCC general secretary
voices deep concern
Dr. Robert Edgar, General Secretary of the National
Council of Churches USA, has sent an open letter to the media, expressing
his concern about the campaign being launched by the Family Research
Council with the support of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, pushing the
view that "those who disagree with them on President Bush's judicial
nominees are ‘against people of faith.’" Edgar says this effort "serves to
further polarize our nation, and it disenfranchises and demonize good
people of faith who hold political beliefs that differ from theirs."
[4-19-05]
Dear Editor:
We are surprised and grieved by a campaign launched this week by Family
Research Council and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who said that those
who disagree with them on President Bush's judicial nominees are "against
people of faith." This campaign, which they are calling "Justice Sunday,"
should properly be called "Just-Us" Sunday. Their attempt to impose on the
entire country a narrow, exclusivist, private view of truth is a dangerous,
divisive tactic. It serves to further polarize our nation, and it
disenfranchises and demonize good people of faith who hold political beliefs
that differ from theirs.
To brand any group of American citizens as "anti-Christian" simply
because they differ on political issues runs counter to the values of both
faith and democracy. It is especially disheartening when that accusation is
aimed at fellow Christians. The National Council of Churches encompasses
more than 45 million believers across a broad spectrum of theology and
politics who work together on issues important to our society. If they
disagree with Senator Frist's political positions, are these 45 million
Christians now considered "anti-Christian"?
In the spirit of 1 Timothy 6:3-5, we urge Senator Frist and the Family
Research Council to reconsider their plan. We will be praying for the Lord
to minister to them and change their hearts so that they will not continue
to take our nation down this destructive path.
Bob Edgar, General Secretary
National Council of Churches USA
New York City
From:
Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory
Director, Washington Office
Presbyterian Church (USA)202-543-1126 202-543-7755 (fax)
100 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Suite 410
Washington, DC 20002
eivory@ctr.pcusa.org
For more information, contact:
Rich Houston,
Presbyterian Washington Office,
100 Maryland Ave. NE, Suite 410
Washington, DC 20002
202-543-1126, fax 202-543-7755.
Email rhouston@ctr.pcusa.org
|
| From the
Presbyterian Washington Office:
Advocacy groups for religious and civil rights urge
people of faith to reject Senator Frist's co-option of religion
[4-19-05]
The Family Research Council (FRC) has organized a telecast scheduled for
Sunday, April 24 that will portray those who oppose certain judicial
nominations as "anti-Christian" or "anti-faith." The event is entitled,
"Justice Sunday: Stop the Filibuster Against Faith." Senate majority leader
Bill Frist has agreed to participate in the event.
No one faith or political party holds a monopoly on morality in this
country. To claim that individuals are "against people of faith" based upon
their views about preserving the Senate filibuster is a smear against
countless devout Americans. There are people of faith on differing sides of
this as well as many other public issues.
The rhetoric associated with "Justice Sunday" is divisive and damaging to
religion and politics. The "anti-faith" accusations of "Justice Sunday," and
events of its kind, pit America's faithful against one another. They
polarize our nation, politicize religion, and improperly sacralize our
politics. Our elected leaders should not participate in efforts to divide
Americans along religious lines.
Senator Frist should withdraw from participation in the "Justice Sunday"
event or repudiate the notion that anyone who does not endorse a particular
political and legal agenda is anti-religious. The Senate Majority Leader's
participation in this event lends his approval and gives legitimacy to the
featured messages of an event that is divisive and hurtful.
While the Family Research Council has a right to say what it wants, our
elected officials have a responsibility to repudiate language that divides
Americans along religious lines and smear people as "anti-faith" simply
because they take another political point of view. This is especially true
of the majority leader of the U.S. Senate who should defend his colleagues
from such scurrilous and baseless accusations. There is no "filibuster
against people of faith."
Judicial nominees are not opposed on the basis of their faith. There is
every reason to assume that the 95% of President Bush's nominees who have
received floor consideration, as well as almost all of the senators on both
sides of the filibuster issue, are people of faith.
Checks and balances, such as the filibuster, help protect
religious liberty in America. A great achievement of our democracy is our
stalwart commitment to protect the voice of its minorities. Throughout our
nation's history, certain people of faith have often occupied this minority
status. How ironic if, in the name of religion, upholding the voice of the
minority should now be perceived as an affront to faith in this country!
Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory, Director
Washington Office
Presbyterian Church (USA)
202-543-1126 fax 202-543-7755
100 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Suite 410
Washington, DC 20002
eivory@ctr.pcusa.org
For more information, contact:
Rich Houston,
Presbyterian Washington Office,
100 Maryland Ave. NE, Suite 410
Washington, DC 20002
202-543-1126, fax 202-543-7755.
Email rhouston@ctr.pcusa.org
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A major
Ghost Ranch event this summer!
July 28 - August 3, 2008
Paths toward Peace and Justice:
Spirituality, Earth-Care, and the Prophetic Word in a time of
Violence
More info >> |
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An index of
our reports
from
BECOMING NEIGHBORS:
An Invitation
to Global Discipleship
A Witherspoon conference
on global mission and justice
September 16 - 19, 2007
Louisville, Kentucky |
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Check out our report from the
Conference
on
Terror, Torture,
and Security |
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