Catholic Judges, the U.S. Constitution and Natural Law
This came from the Zenit News Agency, a Catholic news service based in Rome. I thought it would be of interest here. --Catholic Judges, the U.S. Constitution and Natural LawInterview With Pepperdine's Douglas KmiecMALIBU, California, AUG. 29, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The nomination of Judge John Roberts, a Catholic, to the U.S. Supreme Court has turned the spotlight on the question of the interplay between religion and the law.Douglas Kmiec, the Caruso Family chair and professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University of Law and co-author of "The American Constitutional Order: History, Cases and Philosophy" (LexisNexis), shared with ZENIT the appropriateness of the U.S. bishops' involvement in the confirmation process, as well as the importance of the natural law tradition for prospective Supreme Court justices.Q: Right now there are three, and there could be four, Catholics sitting on the Supreme Court. However, they often have diverging views on some important issues. Is there a Catholic way of interpreting the U.S. Constitution, or can there be legitimate disagreement about the meaning of the text?Kmiec: The tools of constitutional interpretation are the text, history and structure of the American Constitution. Part of that history includes the Declaration of Independence and its reference to self-evident truths of creation, created equality and unalienable rights. As Lincoln reflected, the Constitution was framed for the philosophy of the Declaration, not the other way around. It is to secure our unalienable rights that "governments are instituted." All those who would seek judicial office should sincerely appreciate the intrinsic value of the human person reflected in the Declaration.Moreover, one would expect, and I do, that those who are truly sustained by the Catholic faith and a Catholic family, and perhaps educated in Catholic schools, would have a special appreciation by study of the natural law tradition and its direct contribution to the American order of these first principles.As to divergence among believers, in law or anything else, that is part of the human condition. In truth, Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy - the three Catholics presently on the Supreme Court -- have a statistically high level of agreement in matters of legal interpretation, though each has had different legal training and experience, and that, rather than their common faith, likely explains the variations among them.Q: Recently, Bishop William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, sent a letter to President Bush calling for a Supreme Court justice that would rule in a number of ways consistent with the bishops' public policy agenda. What would be the jurisprudential consequences for a Catholic justice who heeded Bishop Skylstad's call?Kmiec: Bishop Skylstad's letter was a direct and entirely appropriate _expression_ of Catholic faith. The letter might be perceived as somewhat misunderstanding the intended role of the Supreme Court, but one can hardly fault the bishop for this since some members of Congress, themselves, wrongly think of judges as policy-makers. As a matter of original understanding, nothing in the Constitution is at odds with any of the policies the bishop urges. For example, while the Constitution provides for capital punishment, there is nothing precluding the American people in their respective states to end or limit its application if the people come to be persuaded by the witness and prayer and instruction of Catholics -- and others -- in the public square that, as John Paul II taught in "The Gospel of Life," its application should be rare.Q: What role should a judge's faith and moral beliefs play in his or her role as a nonpartisan adjudicator?Kmiec: The Constitution puts religious belief off-limits for selection or qualification. It states in Article VI: "No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." Religious belief is necessarily off-limits in adjudication.Q: Can a Catholic judge in good conscience strike down laws restricting abortion that he or she believes are unconstitutional? What about applying unjust laws? What should a judge do in the case of a moral conflict?Kmiec: As a matter of formal logic, it must be readily admitted that no person in or out of office can set himself or herself above the divine law. Yet, repeatedly and circumspectly, the Church's teaching is directed at "elected officials" or those casting "a legislative vote."So neither John Kerry nor Ted Kennedy, for example, should feign surprise when they are called upon by the Church to use their persuasive gifts to legislatively reduce the incidence of abortion, and certainly not to be its propagandists.So, too, it was entirely appropriate for Bishop Skylstad to write President Bush, an elected offic
Text of complaint against UC
Here is a link to the full complaint filed against UC: http://www.acsi.org/webfiles/webitems/attachments/007875_2.%20ACSI%20CA%20Complaint.pdf Ed Brayton -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.10.17/84 - Release Date: 8/29/05 ___ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
Can military chaplains pray publicly "in Jesus name?"
Can a military chaplain pray publicly "in Jesus name?" And can a military chaplain quote "divisive" scriptures? Today the Air Force issued NEW guidelines forbidding sectarian public prayers. But the Naval Chief of Chaplains said that actually can't be enforced. Comments on the article on the front page of today's Washington Post? Military Wrestles With Disharmony Among Chaplains Feel free to call or email Chaplain Klingenschmitt with your questions. 757-444-1050 and visit his web-site for evidence...www.persuade.tv -- Military Wrestles With Disharmony Among Chaplains By Alan CoopermanWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, August 30, 2005; Page A01 The growing influence of evangelical Protestants is roiling the military chaplain corps, where their desire to preach their faith more openly is colliding with long-held military traditions of pluralism and diversity. After accusations this summer that evangelical chaplains, faculty and coaches were pressuring cadets at the Air Force Academy, the Air Force yesterday issued new guidelines on respect for religious minorities. In the Navy, evangelical Protestant chaplains are fighting what they say is a legacy of discrimination in hiring and promotions, and they are bridling at suggestions they not pray publicly "in the name of Jesus." Much of the conflict is in two areas that, until now, have been nearly invisible to civilians: how the military hires its ministers and how they word their public prayers. Evangelical chaplains -- who are rising in numbers and clout amid a decline in Catholic priests and mainline Protestant ministers -- are challenging the status quo on both questions, causing even some evangelical commanders to worry about the impact on morale. "There is a polarization that is beginning to set up that I don't think is helpful. Us versus them," said Air Force Col. Richard K. Hum, an Evangelical Free Church minister who is the executive director of the Armed Forces Chaplains Board. "I don't know whether it's an overflow of what's happening in society. But this sort of thing is so detrimental to what we are trying to do in the chaplaincy." The Rev. MeLinda S. Morton, a Lutheran minister who resigned in June as an Air Force chaplain after criticizing the religious atmosphere at the Air Force Academy, said there has been a palpable rise in evangelical fervor not just among chaplains but also among ! the officer corps in general since she joined the military in 1982, originally as a launch officer in a nuclear missile silo. "When we were coneheads -- missile officers -- I would never, ever have engaged in conversations with subordinates aligning my power and position as an officer with my views on faith matters," she said. Today, "I've heard of people being made incredibly uncomfortable by certain wing commanders who engage in sectarian devotions at staff meetings." The tradition of chaplains in the U.S. military goes back to George Washington, who first sought a minister for his Virginia regiment in 1756. In the early days of the republic, commanders simply chose a chaplain who shared their beliefs. But with the expansion of the military in World War II, the armed services set quotas for chaplains of various faiths, attempting to match the proportion of each denomination in the general population. I! n a class-action lawsuit -- filed in 1999 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and still in the discovery, or evidence-gathering, stage -- more than 50 Navy chaplains contend that the formula became a rigid and discriminatory "thirds rule": one-third Catholics, one-third mainline Protestants and one-third everybody else. According to Hum, the military abandoned numerical targets about 20 years ago, partly for legal reasons and partly because the proliferation of religious groups made the system unworkable. Although chaplains are paid by the armed services, they must be ordained and "endorsed," or nominated, by religious organizations. The number of endorsers has grown from about 10 denominations in 1945 to more than 240 groups today, Hum said. Like college admissions officers, Pentagon officials now say they seek diversity without using quotas. "We don't actually say we want to have four rabbi! s this year, or 20 Catholic priests. What we do is, we look at who is sent to us by our endorsers throughout the country and . . . then we bring the best qualified into the chaplain corps," Rear Adm. Louis V. Iasiello, a Catholic priest and the chief of Navy chaplains, said in an interview at the Pentagon's Navy Annex. Pentagon data analyzed by The Washington Post show a substantial rise in the number of evangelical chaplains in the past decade, along with a modest decline in mainline Protestant ministers and a precipitous drop in Catholic priests, mirroring a nationwide priest shortage. Of the approximately 1.4 million people on active duty in th
UC: Wisdom From the Mouths of Babes
I have an indirect personal interest in this case, because I am related to a "myth-believing" young Christian who attends a Christian school which uses one of the textbooks banned in California. My son, Joshua, is a 10th grader at Lincoln Christian School, a school with a rigorous academic program, but, alas, one that insists on teaching myths and lies in science class (and perhaps in history class as well--I'm not sure about that textbook). I asked this young fundie what he thought about attending a school that would not qualify him to attend the U of C. And he said two things: 1. "It's their loss." 2. "Its not much of a penalty to be kept out of a school that doesn't respect my religious liberty and who I am." I thought this was very perceptive. Indeed, he may be a future law and economics scholar; he is right that the real loser in a discrimination scenario is the one who discriminates, because the discriminator loses out on many high quality students (to the advantage of more tolerant competitors in the college admissions marketplace). No matter how much disdain UC may have for schools like Lincoln Christian, the best students graduating from LCS are as good or better than the best students coming out of other schools. Its the school's loss if it chooses to discriminate against an entire class of students merely because the U doesn't approve of the textbooks used in certain classes at the schools they attend. And he is also right that it is no loss to be excluded from a school that doesn't respect who you are and what you believe. When fellow believers ask my advice about college choices, I encourage them to consider Christian colleges (just as I encourage them to do the same for K-12). Whatever the outcome of the lawsuit, it seems clear that theologically conservative Christians would be wise to avoid the UC system. Rick DuncanRick Duncan Welpton Professor of Law University of Nebraska College of Law Lincoln, NE 68583-0902"When the Round Table is broken every man must follow either Galahad or Mordred: middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis, Grand Miracle"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered." --The Prisoner__Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
