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In the category of being hoist by one's own petard: A
friendly reader notes that I, too, misspelled "berserk." J
My sincerest apology.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, June 14, 2004 12:52
PM
Subject: Re: The President and the
Pope
I don't wish to become entangled in this increasingly ad
hominem debate; and I suppose I regret starting the thread, seeing as how
the question appears to have been willfully misconstrued and turned to other
ends. But for what it's worth, I think it should be quite obvious from
my prior posts and elsewhere that my "antennae" go neither berzerk nor
"bezerk" whenever public officials "act[] on [their] religious positions
in the political square." This case (as described in press reports,
anyway -- I make no claim about their accuracy) obviously involves something
quite beyond a public official acting in accord with his religious beliefs, no
matter what one thinks of the propriety or constitutionality of the
President's conduct.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, June 14, 2004 12:38
PM
Subject: Re: The President and the
Pope
I have understood the distinction from the beginning of
this thread. I was just surprised that you "approved of" Kerry
violating his own Church's norms by receiving communion. Later in the
thread, you made clear that you have no horse in that battle, but you
mangled my position. I will leave it at that.
As for the general point, I repeat that the antennae on
this thread go bezerk when this president acts on his religious positions in
the political square. I fear that many have no idea how much poorer we
would be if our predecessors had not done the same (of course, recognizing
that there have been grave mistakes as well).
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, June 14, 2004 12:27
PM
Subject: Re: The President and the
Pope
In a message dated 6/14/2004 11:49:23 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes: did not force you to discuss the denial of communion aspect of
the story.
You did that yourself when you said:
"This does not
mean that I would hesitate to vote against a president who
asked the
Pope to instruct American bishops to denounce action I
approve
of."
The "action that I approve of" in the context of
this story has to be Kerry
taking communion in violation of Church
norms.
I'm afraid the
above fails to observe an elementary distinction between a
constitutional issue and a political or policy issue. I might
believe that nothing in the Constitution prohibits a President from asking
the Pope to urge his Bishops to act in a certain manner while at the same
time believing that for political reasons it is a bad idea. Thus, I
might defend a President's constitutional prerogative to consult with
the Pope, but simultaneously embrace the proposition that guys I want to
be president not engage in such conduct. Similarly, it might be
constitutionally permissible for a President to invade Iraq, but that
doesn't mean I shouldn't vote against a President who does so if my
conception of what's right should counsel me to do so. The ideas of the
right and the good are not exhausted by what is constitutionally
permissible.
While I always
welcome "aid[s] [to my] understanding," let me reiterate: what
is religiously proper concerning who should and who should not take
communion is entirely irrelevant to the question of whether the
President's conduct in consulting the Pope is constitutionally
permissible. I do not see that the distinction between the religious
question and the constitutional question is in any way novel, but it
is important to adhere to it nonetheless.
Bobby
Robert Justin Lipkin
Widener
University School of Law
Delaware
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