Emerging Religion

I sometimes feel that I’m operating on information overload. Just trying to keep up with current events can be a full time job. I have tried to focus mostly on foreign policy but that is very difficult when you consider how intertwined it is with every other aspect of our government and our daily lives. The fact that the current administration seems to like to keep us in a domestic policy crisis mode 24/7 doesn’t help much either.

Today I read an article on how the role of religion has “emerged” as an issue in the Miers Supreme Court nomination. Well, hello. Is this really news? Sorry if I sound sarcastic. I do have to admit though that this did make me think about how my own religion has played a role in my view of the world. I have never been a devout person because my religious upbringing was some what dysfunctional. Born to a Methodist father, attended the Baptist church as a child, educated in a Catholic school and baptized a Presbyterian. Okay, I know, but it goes along with my biological pedigree, you know. Anyway, though not Catholic, my tendency through life has been to lean toward the Catholic Church and so consequently I do have some issues with abortion. Other than that however I have always strived to try to look at the world as objectively as possible without the prism of mine or any other religion. I have always believed that this is what everyone should do. I just jumped to that conclusion. Curses upon me. The other conclusion I jumped to is that all judges and especially Supreme Court Judges should leave their religion at home when they go to the court house. Now you might ask why? Simple, because…. the people involved and impacted by the rulings they make in the court room are citizens of this country and members of every religion on earth. I believe the number of official religious denomination in this country is around 700. When you think about this it should become obvious why a secular court is important. Did you know that in an Islamic court the punishment for theft is to cut off the hand of the convicted thief? Now this might not be an issue if the person loosing the hand is an actual thief. Justice served and all that. The problem I think is that they might make a mistake. They might just arrest me for shoplifting and after the punishment find out they had made a mistake. Oops! Oh judge do you mind giving me back my hand. This of course could also take us into the realm of the death penalty where we make way to many mistakes as it is but we’ll leave that for another day. Did you also know that in the bibles of many of the Christian denominations in our country there is a passage that reads “an eye for an eye”? Suppose the new Supreme Court Judge took that as literally as some readers of the bible do. Oops! Oh judge do you mind giving me back my eye? I’m not really a peeping tom.

You might conclude by my comments that I’m a little wary of Ms. Miers nomination to the Supreme Court. You’re right. I am in fact very nervous but even more so since, the role of religion has “emerged” as an issue in her Supreme Court nomination. Let me simply give you my thoughts on this out front. If religion is the litmus test for Miers nomination to the Supreme Court and her being an evangelical Christian is the prerequisite then I don’t want her on the Supreme Court and the President should withdraw her nomination now. Other than that after reviewing her bio I do not believe she is qualified and therefore not the candidate I want to see on the court.

Those are The Sergeant Majors thoughts on that.