Robert B. Hubbell is a daily blogger whose reflections on the news are consistently interesting:
Religious extremists have continued their assault on the status of women as equal citizens under the law and full participants in the liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. After the Supreme Court’s reactionary majority engaged in the charade of “returning the question” of reproductive liberty “to the people’s representatives,” a rogue federal judge in Texas has issued a nationwide ban on mifepristone because of his personal disagreement with the FDA’s scientific conclusions regarding safety of the drug. The opinion is equal parts junk science and religious screed. It is an insult to the rule of law and the dignity of women as human beings with control over their bodies and reproductive choices.
The opinion is even more pernicious because mifepristone is frequently prescribed to help women safely manage miscarriages. In the absence of mifepristone and because of dozens of laws criminalizing abortion, a single federal judge with no science or medical training has ordered millions of women to risk infection, sepsis, and death before they can receive medical intervention in a miscarriage.
The DOJ has announced that it will appeal the ruling to the arch-conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which may uphold the ruling. A competing and contrary ruling in Washington state suggests that the US Supreme Court will be forced to intervene soon.
The religious extremists who successfully took down Roe are now using that victory as a roving license to attack fundamental liberties everywhere. They have misread Dobbs, their limited mandate, the will of the electorate, and the rule of law. Whatever Dobbs stands for, it did not convert our democracy into a theocracy—which is the premise of Judge Kacsmaryk’s first in our nation’s history ruling by a federal judge overturning the scientific judgments of the FDA.
Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling is not only wrong, but it is also dangerous in its implications. Under the reasoning adopted by Judge Kacsmaryk, the next logical step is a ruling declaring fetal personhood under the Constitution and an order mandating every state to criminalize abortion. I am not being hyperbolic. I urge you to reach this superb analysis by Mark Joseph Stern in Slate, Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling against mifepristone will force the Supreme Court to act fast. Stern writes:
[Kacsmaryk] deemed fetuses to “arguably” be “people” who are killed by mifepristone, seeking to establish the “fetal personhood” that has always been the end goal of the movement. For support, he cited a brief by anti-abortion advocate Robert P. George asserting that the Constitution compels every state to outlaw abortion.
There are more dangerous statements in Kacsmaryk’s opinion, which are detailed in Stern’s analysis. While we should not surrender to alarmism (not a comment directed to Stern), we must be realistic about the path to victory. Republican leaders know they have overstepped; editorials in conservative newspapers and conservative commentators are raising the alarm that Republicans have overstepped the advantage granted in Dobbs. See op-ed by Michele Golberg in NYTimes, The Abortion Ban Backlash Is Starting to Freak Out Republicans
But the Republican Party is captive to the religious extremists whose endorsements are now the price of election in Republican primaries. In other words, there is no going back for the GOP, and things may get worse for us before they get better. But Republicans have locked themselves into irreversible losing trajectory and are already paying the price. But we must step our efforts as they ratchet theirs. We can do that; we have begun to do that; we must continue, and most not lose hope. We will win; they will lose. It is just a matter of time.
Tennessee.
The anti-democratic, racially based expulsion of two young Black representatives from the Tennessee House by the GOP has attracted worldwide condemnation. People outside of America who had never heard the name “Tennessee” now associate it with the historical birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan and the modern home for the most virulent strains of racism in America. A reader (“CC”) posted selected citations in the Comments section, with a brief comment:
Justin Jones told the Tennessee legislature that the whole world was watching. Looks like he could be right.
GREAT BRITAIN: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65206459
GERMANY: https://www.dw.com/en/us-republicans-in-tennessee-vote-to-expel-2-democrats/a-65255635
Should Tennessee legislators care what the world media thinks about Tennessee? Only if Tennessee aspires to be part of the global, interconnected business community that will drive commerce in the future (like Nissan and Volkswagen, which both have plants in Tennessee). If Tennessee wants to rely on its other leading industry—entertainment—for future growth, it should consider whether most performers in the entertainment industry want to be associated with a state whose current top export is hate.
And my apologies and sympathy for Democrats and Independents in Tennessee who are fighting the good fight. We need you and will continue to support you. Everyone understands that the hate is coming from the GOP leadership, not from the good people of Tennessee who are struggling to create a more perfect democracy.
But Tennessee Republicans have not learned their lesson. Despite universal condemnation, major media outlets are reporting that Republican leaders are threatening the county commissions that might re-appoint Justin Pearson and Justin Jones—as they are legally entitled to do. Worse, Republicans are threatening not to seat Jones and Pearson if they are re-elected. It simply doesn’t get more totalitarian than that.
The reaction from the business community has been muted because the events occurred late in a week that included observances for Easter and Passover. But it is hard to fathom that the Memphis Grizzlies NBA playoff games next week will not be affected by Black athletes speaking their views on the events of Thursday. It is difficult to see why a nearly all-Black University of Tennessee football team would play in the face of such blatant racism. It is difficult to see why FedEx, Jack Daniels, Tractor Supply, and Nissan would want to support GOP legislators who committed one of the most overtly racist acts in a generation.
The state of Tennessee has yet to feel the business backlash that will follow the legislature’s action on Thursday. When it does, Tennessee Republicans will realize they have roused a sleeping giant.
Clarence Thomas.
Clarence Thomas issued a dissembling non-denial of his grotesque violation of judicial norms over two decades. Let’s set the quibbling aside and focus on the essence: The scale of Thomas’s corruption shocks the conscience. It appears that in some years, Thomas received more free travel by jet and luxury yacht that exceeded his salary by a significant percentage. Whatever the rules are, when someone is bestowing economic benefits on you that exceed your salary, it does not matter whether those benefits are hospitality, gifts, travel, or bribes—the amount of the benefit is corrupt. Period.
Thomas’s evasive non-denial studiously avoided any mention of free travel on a private jet—the clearest violation of the pre-existing rules. Despite his denial, Thomas was dishonest when he claimed that he understood—based on conversations with others—that he was not required to report “hospitality” in the range of a half-million-dollars. Thomas did not believe his own denial because in 2004, he was reporting “hospitality” in the from Harlan Crowe—and then suddenly stopped reporting gifts from Crow after the LATimers article. See After an L.A. Times story on Thomas’ gifts, he stopped disclosing – Los Angeles Times.com) [Behind a paywall.]
In other words, when Thomas’s compliance with the rules attracted attention from the media, he simply stopped reporting. There was no “misunderstanding,” just an intent to conceal corrupt benefits from a conservative mega-donor. Thomas’s flouting of the rules and norms of judicial conduct is entirely out of step with the conduct of most judges in the federal judiciary.
Here’s a personal story: I clerked for a federal court of appeals judge before cell phones were widely available. The federal court system participated in the federal WATS phone utility (“wide area telephone system”) that effectively allowed you to call toll-free anywhere in the US. At the time most landline calls outside of the immediate exchange area cost a dime for the first ten minutes, and then a nickel for each five minutes thereafter. Because the federal WATS system effectively conferred an economic benefit, personal use was prohibited.
The judge for whom I clerked was married to a leader in the civil rights community. Because of that fact and to avoid any appearances of impropriety by using the WATS line for personal communications, the judge installed a personal land line in chambers at great cost to him (about which he complained vociferously; he was complainer by nature).
Having spent countless hours in the judge’s interior office helping to draft opinions, I can attest that 99% of his conversations on his personal land line went something like this: “I’ll be working late again, tonight. . . . I love you, too.”
I don’t mean to hold up my judge as a hero; I mean to say that his attitude about avoiding the appearance of conflicts is emblematic of the high ethical standards followed by most federal judges. Against that backdrop, Thomas’s manifest disregard of judicial ethics is shocking.
You undoubtedly noticed that the federal judicial center issued guidelines a few weeks ago that now explicitly require Thomas to report most of the largesse he received from Crow. As Yogi Berra never said, “That’s too much of coincidence to be a coincidence.” Thomas (or Roberts) obviously got wind of the investigative work by Pro Publica and decided to provide a fig leaf of deniability for Thomas. There is more to this story. It will only take enterprising journalists and Supreme Court practitioners to speak up for the full story to emerge. It won’t be pretty. It isn’t now.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s such a tragic irony that the irredeemable would-be playboy, irreligious lout Jabba the Hut was the enemy of women who enabled all this.
Oops. Jabba the Trump.
I have difficulty telling them apart.
Just the other day I commented to my husband that Trump reminded me of Jabba the Hut!
The similarity is uncanny in appearance, appetites, demeanor, moral compass, and so on are uncanny. Was Trump’s mother, perhaps, captured by aliens and sold to slave traders on Tatooine?
That poor woman!
Oops. Sorry about the typo. I made an incomplete edit of my sentence!
OK, I’ll go first this time. To write an essay, no matter how spot on it may be, about religious extremism in our public life and not take the next step to name names seems like a bit of a copout. And then to finish with an observation of Thomas and not link his selective morality to his supposedly absolutist Catholicism — he trained for the priesthood before deciding on law school, seems there’s some there there at least worth looking into — to the religious extremism now cooked into our laws is…well, I’ll leave it at that. This is not religious bigotry, these are provable facts with obvious connections. Let’s not fear saying them out loud because some would twist our meaning and intent.
Greg, taking your point a step further (and, I appreciate that you made it) – there can be no win without identifying the enemy.
Speculating on the reason a libertarian I.e. Charles Koch would go all in to take away women’s rights – he found an issue that draws conservative Catholics to the GOP?
The Catholic church had a brief flirtation in this country with liberalism/modernism. Is there evidence that the Church has returned to, “error has no rights,” doctrine in its quest for power? I infer from Neil Coughlan’s 6-23-2004 article, “Catholicism and American Freedom- the odd couple,” that it’s a question with an answer that may well threaten democracy.
As a second tell, Coughlan observes that “Catholicism participated minimally in abolitionism.” While Coughlan doesn’t make the point, I will, Georgetown didn’t admit its first Black student util 1953. Is the origin and support for school choice a surprise? The Catholic church and Koch are major players.
Given the bio of the Executive Director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, a good journalist should delve into the Koch/Church connections in the state Conferences. Then, the reporter could expand to look at the staff at the various Koch-funded free market programs on college campuses, as well as the new Robert P. George- influenced
centers for the study of human rights including those modeled on his James Madison program at schools like Catholic University, Williams, Georgetown and NYU
(described at Wikipedia).
John Eastman, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Adrian Vermuele and William Barr could be one-offs but, maybe not.
Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling has already been (sort of reversed or challenged) in Spokane, Washington.
https://apnews.com/article/washington-abortion-pills-lawsuit-fda-1857d1a4fd356c61ad76e00621e93b44
And the two democrats that were expelled in Tennessee may be back in their seat by next Monday.
I couldn’t find the link to that story that went into detail how this works in Tennessee. Tennessee’s constitution requires a replacement be named quickly by the party that represents the majority of voters in a district and those two Democrats came from districts with a majority of Democratic voters.
From what I read earlier this morning, one of the two has already been named to refill that seat he was just tossed out of. That’s a temporary appointment and a special election must be held, I think within a year, to make it permanent. What’s interesting is that what I read said they can’t expel those two again for doing the same thing that got them expelled the first time.
As for Thomas, if he doesn’t resign or die of a heart attack, we are probably stuck with him no matter how corrupt he is. The only way to get rid of Thomas is to impeach him and since the Democrats don’t hold the majority in the House of Representatives, the totally corrupt and tyrannical Republicans will not vote to impeach their also corrupt and tyrannical Supreme Court Justice.
There were two decisions about whether the abortion pill is legal and safe. The judge in Texas, an anti-abortion zealot, said the pill was unsafe, although the FDA says it is safe. He also ruled that the pills can’t be distributed through the mails (the Comstock Act of 1873). But another federal judge in the state of Washington reached the opposite conclusion. The matter will go to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, once one of the nation’s liberal stronghold but now conservative-dominated. The Texas judgment will probably be upheld, and the matter of banning the pill will go to the Supreme Court. The Court said in Dobbs that the abortion issue should be settled in each state. The Texas decision bans the pill nationwide unless reversed by SCOTUS. More than half of all abortions rely on the pill.
sort of = limited and temporary
There is a big difference between Theocracy, rule by God, and Ecclesiocracy, rule by a church and its priests, in other words, those who represent themselves as representing God. It is the latter that threatens Democracy in our times, as it has in so many other times.
Considering that there are no gods of the type that most believe in, why should we tolerate the faith believers assertions?
It is not really necessary to argue that point since all we have in evidence is a set of people who claim a right to impose their will on the lives of others.
This is what happened with the emergence of the so-called “hydrophilic cultures”–the ones dependent, for agriculture, on large-scale irrigation systems and the organization to pull those off–centralization around an administrative complex and oracular center headed by an all-powerful god-man and his subservient priesthood. It’s astonishing that thousands of years later we find ourselves amid so many who would like to return us to such a time–to turn back the clock thousands of years before there were clocks. LOL.
We need a scorecard.
From an article about Judge Kascmaryck
“He was confirmed in June 2019 by a Republican majority Senate by a vote of 52-46. Centrist Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican who voted against Kacsmaryk’s appointment, citing his “alarming bias against LGBTQ Americans and disregard for Supreme Court precedents.”
His background explains how he was selected.
As for Judge Thomas – unintended consequence of this mess could be he resigns a year from now which is a motivator for gop presidential voting in a year or dragging it out so they can pull a “Garland” again keeping President Biden from selecting
From Wikipedia entry:
From 2014 to 2019, he worked for First Liberty Institute, where he held the position of deputy general counsel. Reuters described Kacsmaryk as a “one-time Christian activist”, noting that First Liberty Institute is “a Christian conservative legal group that pursues religious-liberty cases”. While working for First Liberty Institute in 2015, he submitted an amicus brief for a lawsuit in the Supreme Court, and argued against a Washington law mandating that pharmacies are required to provide contraceptives.
And so as to separate on issue brought up in Wikipedia entry (known on the street as a Leonard Leo wet dream):
He has been a member of the Fort Worth chapter of the Federalist Society since 2012. He has been a member of the red mass committee for the Roman Catholic diocese of Ft. Worth.
GregB I’m going to say this and then bow out (unplug): I doubt you read all posts with the first question being: “How can I steer this to feed everyone’s anti-Catholic bias?”
But all religions have an absolutist (beyond human) element insofar as they are long-time historical and relate to “God.” On the other hand, having lived in the (secular/freedom of religion) United States all of one’s life, there is no excuse for theocratic intent or Absolutism in the political and social sphere . . . but there is probably some explanation to be had in a basic psychological disturbance and/or just an undisturbed stupidity/unqualified ignorance/ coupled with arrogance in maintaining such a mentality.
Also, if what you say about Thomas’ training for the priesthood in the mid-1900’s is true, it doesn’t mean he had to stop thinking and developing–I think the influence of secular democracy is more powerful than you assume? If that’s the case in his case, however, then it’s more about his stupidity and dogmatism than about some absolutist religious doctrine he trained under years ago (if that’s so).
But there are too many religious people (across the board with all religions) who understand human understanding as mediated/mediating, knowing . . . yes, but Absolute in the “I know everything about everything” sense? NADA.
Granted, historically we are in a state of transition where philosophical issues are concerned . . . like the ideas of relativism as distinct from thinking any human being can hold Absolute Knowledge of the kind that stands without reasonable evidence and need for explanation. If that’s the case, then that’s the case. That picture of Thomas with Leo, etc., was more about men, their arrogance, and their cult seeking male egos than about a changing church.
Finally, there are too many truly religious people in this Country at least who don’t take Absolutism as you seem to think of it. (Thomas’ views on abortion BTW, if you look at the numbers, have handed the democrats elections and will continue to do so.)
Stupidity and a dull mind, along with wannabe-ism, however, do as stupidity and dull minds do. And some will hang back because of it even as the Church undergoes change. It’s the same for all groups, including those named religious. (The seeds of religious change were planted in the writings of Aquinas and many who came before him.)
My guess is, however, you might want to open and rethink your views of it . . . a pulse is a pulse precisely because it’s not dead and done . . . and not be so absolutist/dogmatic about Catholicism or any religious institution. CBK
The history of the world is bursting with examples of people who held a particular belief and conviction who realized that the authorities speaking for them were not congruent with their deepest convictions. In a lot of those cases, they broke off and did their own thing. They didn’t keep supporting the structure they felt perverted their beliefs. In a lot of other cases, they were ridiculed, ostracized, and even killed. If you’ve ever put some money in the till at mass, you are as complicit as any Republican voting for the cult because, as much as you disagree with most everything in the party’s style, you like their policies.
Now that I think about it, this is actually more than analogous to those who claim to be Republicans and the the current republican party does not represent them. Thanks for leading me to the connection! That’s the analogy I’ve been trying to find.
Greg,
Media’s success- deflect from the Church’s legislative lobbying by focusing on priest abuse.
About lobbyists- last year, the leaders of Right to Life Texas, a big presence in the statehouse, intersected with the leader of the organizations, Veritatis Splendor and Regina Caeli (hybrid Catholic homeschooling). American Conservative posted the tabloid story – a grand story in hypocrisy.
CBK, best to unplug. My partner is RC, and she predicts a schism. The German church May ordain women. It wouldn’t be a bad thing is there were two or three branches of Catholicism, with hard shell conservatives like Alito and Thomas and Barrett part of iit, and a liberal/progressive wing, which allowed married priests and female priests.
My wife Sheila was born Catholic and I converted to Catholicism in 2006.
We’ve been reckoning on an eventual schism in the USA for years; originally over the narrow and doctrinal stance from the hierarchy in the USA Catholic Church and recently over its fawning of the MAGA movement. It is alienating a portion of its own, something it cannot afford.
And another thing…..
If the MAGA caucus ever got into a position of complete control in the USA, it would bear down on The Catholic Church as having divided loyalties (For as every Fundamentalist ‘knows’…’Catholics bow down before Rome’).
deter…
Thank you for adding your comment. I ask you to consider that the religious sect with the greatest political power is the Catholic church not protestant evangelicals. Both are in roughly equal numbers in the country. However, evangelical leaders are fickle. Recent reports tell us they attached to the anti-abortion issue only when they recognized there was money to be made with the cause. Secondly, since MAGA has no morality, they picked up the abortion issue for those members who were desperate for something to claim as righteous about the way they were voting.
The Catholic church has almost 50 state Conferences created to politic. They are not fickle, they are driven by doctrine. In the red, central states they facilitate Republican wins aligning with Koch’s views like school choice. The Church’s centralization gives it power.
The Church has well-placed defenders writing for media who steer readers and listeners into the Christian nationalism narrative which implies protestant and deflects from very effective Church right wing politicking. Evangelical protestants have a structure that is decentralized and very few influencers at top levels in universities and media. The primary religion of Fox on-air staff is Catholic and in so-called liberal media, there are many like CBS’ Margaret Brenneman who have opportunities to create the false impression that American bishops are apolitical and lean a little to the left like the Pope.
Adding a point of illustration, two of the major universities in D.C. are Catholic and have links to Charles Koch. One is Catholic University of America and the other is Georgetown. In 2022, Georgetown hired Ilya Shapiro from the Koch network. Georgetown cleared and reinstated him as Executive Director of the Constitution (in its law school) after he tweeted, that a “lesser Black woman would get a Supreme Court nod.”
Unless the USCCB pays a huge price for its erosion of church and state, democracy may well not survive. Even given severe loss of membership, taxpayers have made Catholic organizations the US’ 3rd largest employer. The SCOTUS decision in Biel v. St. James Catholic school began the process of exempting all religious organizations from civil rights employment law.
Sen. Susan Collins says she was deceived in SCOTUS confirmation hearings by conservative Catholic jurists.
Those who believe in individual rights have a great deal to fear from SCOTUS and politicized conservative Catholics.
The notion that Catholics will be targeted by evangelicals and evangelicals will win should be reassessed.
Thanks to you and others for reading my political concern and its explanation.
The Catholic Church is an organization that took 370 to admit that it got it wrong when it condemned Galileo and that HAS AN OFFICIAL ORGANIZATION TO PERFORM EXORCISMS. Not to mention the obvious sexism of not allowing women to be priests. And the history of child abuse. And the long, long, horrific history of extirpation and genocide of indigenous peoples throughout the world under the banner of the Prince of Peace. And, about that history of worldwide theft of resources and genocide, it only took 530 years for the Pope to get around to saying, oh, gee, sorry about that. (See the recent repudiation of the “Doctrine of Discovery from the 1493 Papal Bull “Inter caetera.”
cx: 370 years
Still, now, TODAY, in 2023, it regularly PERFORMS EXORCISMS.
What a freaking bad joke. Seriously. This is idiotic.
Harlan Crow’s Dad TRAMMELL CROW hosted yearly GOPee retreats for the rich & powerful. Very Bohemian Grove Texas Style.
Once Smuggled a Muammar al-Qadhafi Treasury Minister into Texas.
For a $200 Million foreign investor land deal.
Harlan Crow is a Chip off the old block.
https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/the-crow-qadhafi-connection-6404734
The Clarence Thomas-Harlan Crow attack on Democracy goes back generations. That’s how so many of these thugs become masters at the Influence Trade.
The Texas Observer spent years covering the Crow Family. This 1995 article is just one example of empire-building.
“ New York investment advisor William Bodine was arrested for illegal receipt of funds from the Libyan government.
In his dealings with millionaire Dallas real estate developer Trammell Crow and members of the Crow family.
Bodine received illegal funds in exchange for cultivating contacts with influential Americans who might help lift the international sanctions imposed on Libya following the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/crow-associate-charged-6404439
Thomas knows he was wrong. He was supposed to report all gifts exceeding $415 in value except for “personal hospitality.” That means dinner in the home of a friend, not trips on a private jet and super yacht to exotic locales.
A 2011 Voice Calling Out Clarence Thomas & Harlan Crow.
PUBLIC TRUST AND THE SUPREME
COURT
HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Friday, June 24, 2011 Ms. SLAUGHTER.
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my concern over ethically questionable conduct of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that threatens to undermine
public trust in our judicial system.
Justice Thomas has repeatedly engaged in questionable actions and hidden them from public view. Just this weekend, the New York Times revealed troubling details about favors Justice Thomas has received from millionaire real estate magnate named Harlan Crow.
Despite the revelations, Justice Thomas re- fuses to provide details about his relationship with Mr. Crow. The report from the New York Times is the latest in a long line of troubling actions taken by Justice Thomas.”
Thinkprogress.org/Archive
Clarence Thomas’ political patron Harlan Crow has a Dallas Texas house full of Nazi artifacts and memorabilia. Also a “Garden of Evil” displaying outdoor statues of Lenin, Stalin, Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, Yugoslav Dictator Josip Broz Tito. Collected from public squares across Europe & Asia.
There is lots more going on here that bears looking into.
https://www.washingtonian.com/2023/04/07/clarence-thomass-billionaire-benefactor-collects-hitler-artifacts/
Thanks for the link. It’s not surprising that Thomas has a dear friend who is a collector of Nazi memorabilia.
Broadening the discussion- the explanation for a Black man making conservative court decisions that benefit racist plutocrats- religion-addled and pockets lined with the money of Aryans?
I don’t understand Clarence Thomas. I don’t understand South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, another Black man who has achieved success in a fundamentally racist party.
Agree.
Each has a very serious character flaw- so serious that there is no behavior that would be out of bounds.
And there is more, sadly.
Major Texas GOPee donors Bob Perry Jr. and Harlan Crow provided nearly all of the initial financing for the Swift Boat group.
A friend of the Bush family, Mr. Harlan Crow is a trustee of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation and has donated close to $5 Million to Republican campaigns and conservative groups.
Among his contributions were $100,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group formed to attack the Vietnam War record of Senator John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate. And another $500,000 to an organization that ran advertisements urging the confirmation of President George W. Bush’s nominees to the Supreme Court.
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna43451712
THE BIBLE IS SILENT ON ABORTION:
Out of more than 600 laws of Moses, which includes The Ten Commandments, NONE — not one — rejects abortion. In fact, the Mosaic law in Exodus 21:22-25 clearly shows that causing the abortion of a fetus is NOT MURDER. Exodus 21:22-25 says that if a woman has a miscarriage as the result of an altercation with a man, the man who caused miscarriage should only pay a fine that is to be determined by the woman’s husband, but if the woman dies, the man is to be executed: “If a man strives with a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet there is no harm to the woman, he shall be punished according to what the woman’s husband determines and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if the woman dies, then it shall be life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” Ex. 21:22-25. So, the Bible orders the death penalty for murder of a human being — the mother — but not for the death of a fetus, indicating that the fetus is not yet a human being.
There are Christian denominations that allow abortion in most instances; these denominations include the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church USA. The United Methodist Church and Episcopal churches allow abortion in cases of medical necessity, and the United Universalist Association also allows abortion. If abortion is absolutely forbidden by the Bible, how is it that all the millions of Christians in these Christian denominations allow abortion?
The opposition to abortion comes from Christians who believe that a full-fledged human being is created at the instant of conception. But that is a religious BELIEF and religious beliefs cannot be recognized by our government because that is unconstitutional according to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of our Constitution. Moreover, the belief that a fetus is a human person, complete with a soul, is an interpretation of the Old Testament by only some Christian denominations — not all. Plus, Jewish scholars whose ancestors actually wrote the Old Testament and who know best what the words of the Old Testament mean say that is a WRONG INTERPRETATION of their Old Testament writings.
Those Christians who oppose abortion largely base their view that a fetus is a complete human being and that abortion is murder on the Jewish Bible’s Psalm 139: “You knit me together in my mother’s womb…You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born.”
But, who better to translate the true meaning of Psalm 139 than the Jews who wrote it? And Jewish scholars point out that Psalm 139 merely describes the development of a fetus and does not mean that the fetus has a soul and is a person. In fact, the Jewish Talmud explains that for the first 40 days of a woman’s pregnancy, the fetus is considered “mere fluid” and is just part of the mother’s body, like an appendix or liver. Only after the fetus’s head emerges from the womb at birth is the baby considered a “nefesh” — Hebrew for “soul” or “spirit” — a human person.
THE COURT BENDS THE FACTS: The University of London scientist whose research is cited by the Supreme Court in its ruling to take away abortion rights says that his research has been misinterpreted by Justice Alito and the Supreme Court’s activist conservative majority: Neuroscientist Dr. Giandomenico Iannetti says that the Court is ABSOLUTELY WRONG to say that his research shows that a fetus can feel pain when it is less than 24 weeks of development. “My results by no means imply that,” Dr. Iannetti declares. “I feel that my research was used in a clever way to make a point.”
And Dr. John Wood, molecular neurobiologist at the University, points out that all serious scientists agree that a fetus can NOT feel pain until at least the 24th week “and perhaps not even then.” Dr. Vania Apkarian, head of the Center for Transitional Pain Research at Chicago’s Feinberg School of Medicine, says that the medical evidence on a fetus not feeling pain before 24 weeks or longer has not changed in 50 years and remains “irrefutable” today.
LIFE OF WOE: In its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling upholding abortion rights, the Supreme Court set “viability” — the point at which a fetus can survive outside of the womb — as the dividing line after which some restrictions can be imposed on abortion rights. The pending ruling by current activist conservative majority on the Court will do away with the concept of viability, yet even with all of today’s medical miracles to keep a prematurely born or aborted fetus alive, of all the tens of thousands of cases, 90% OF FETUSES BORN BEFORE OR AT 22 WEEKS DO NOT SURVIVE, and data shows that the majority of those that manage to be kept alive will live the rest of their lives with a combination of BIRTH DEFECTS that include mental impairment, cerebral palsy, breathing problems, blindness, deafness, and other disorders that often require frequent hospitalizations during their lifetimes.
Reporting distinguishes Christian schools from Catholic schools. The public understands Christian as protestant.
Are the conservative judges on SCOTUS, Christian or Catholic?
At Wikipedia, have you read the entry for, “Error has no rights?”
An excellent and cogently argued statement.
Well argued, Quikwrit!!!
It’s due to how almost there are only conservative Supreme Court justices sitting across the benches these days, that all the rulings are all going to lean toward the conservative, and, the worst part is, they can’t be, ousted, and so, there will be, no more, individual rights or freedom that is left, to the, people now. And these supreme court justices are to serve, until, they want to, retire.
The SCOTUS majority are conservative jurists driven by their religion. It’s important to distinguish them from economic conservatives.
I haven’t any notion anymore what “economic conservative” might possibly mean. The right in the United States has no problem with spending billions on corporate welfare. Every Repugnican president for many decades has vastly expanded the deficit.
Bob,
Economic and social conservatives share the trait of hypocrisy.
On the matter of The Right taking complete control of the USA.
For a substantial portion of the White middle of the road population this is a new experience. Ask anyone of, to name but a few, the African-American, Latino, Chinese, Native American communities and ‘Welcome to my world’ would not be an unusual reply.
That said in a nation of multiple time zones, 300 million population whose majority ethnic group is in danger of polarising along various societal lines there is one question. Can governmental control be sustained by one group with an untidy mix of politics and selective religious beliefs whose core theme seems to be intolerance? Not taken but held?
Nations with a long history of central control based on force can experience regime change by one system taking over the mechanics of rulership and administration and layering them with a new belief system. The ‘American Experiment’ however has been an uneasy coalition of myriad views, in some cases simply not aligning with one political system or another. In addition it is a federal system in which states and large cities have evolved certain levels of independence which they jealously guard. Add to that a cultural propensity to ‘See You In Court’ then the idea of one narrow focused group trying to hold sway over a nation of such size becomes questionable as even a short-term prospect.
There is also another underlying theme which has been common in history and no region has been immune from and that is civil strife. We in the UK know from the painful situation in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the end of the century and twenty-years on that endemic hostility can break out into violence akin to a low-level civil war.
The current Right may dream of taking control, and technically could indeed achieve that in the Senate and House, along with several states. However if they think for one moment they can rule the entire USA with its history of individual independence and so many avenues of descent then they will reap a whirlwind which at best will, over time make their administration a log-jam.
Some may fear there is apathy in the nation. That may be some, however a simple 5% population involved anti-government activists still amounts to figures which touch one million.
To repeat they may try, they might succeed, but they will not endure.
You make good points. Adding, a lot of suffering occurs while people, “endure.”
Ireland’s great hunger had an impact in creating the friction you mention. The Church worked vigorously to tamp down violence while the economic policies of men who believed what Koch now promotes, exploited the poor.
Today, the situation in the US is demographically different. The religious flags flown by rioters on Jan. 6 and the efforts of Steve Bannon and John Eastman provide example of attempts to stoke upheaval.
Few among the Black are Catholic and US churches, on the whole, largely remain bastions of segregation. Among the right wing ruling elite, the circumstance likely created the perceived need for civil war to keep the exploited POC from rising up.
I hope you are right about your prediction.
You’ve highlighted, Linda, some of the salient points within the trial the USA now faces.
Another factor I guess is that by the very age and nature of the nations Europeans and Americans will have different perspectives. The USA’s inception and development over 250-300 years being quite different to the 1,500( give or take a century) years of Europe as it is today.
One aspect all regions share is that a civil crisis is long in the making, and has several causes, some buried deep within the communities, thus folk feel a certain strong empathy with ‘the cause’.
One harsh lesson which History teaches is that those with extreme views who try and bend events and entire nations to their agendas fail, often fall and suffer. They are also prone to factionalism.
Thus another scenario we can hope for is that the bombastic ego-centric and vanity of Trump which cares only for self will collide against the revised ‘National Socialism’ (history loves its irony) of the DeSantis creed in Mutual Assured Destruction. The vitriol and infighting which will arise, hopefully will allow moderate Republicans to take the stage and haul the party back to where it was, things will bumble on as before, the damage can be repaired, and the past ten years can be consigned to history.
Not an ideal solution. There never are Ideal Solutions. But there are worse alternatives.
At its inception, Jefferson warned my nation. He said, in every country, in every age, the priest aligns with the despot.
The Republican candidate campaigns in the central, Rocky Mountain and southern states can be summarized as “Jesus, guns, babies.”
At the Pat Buchanan site, there is a posted interview conducted by Ryan Girdusky (2014). It explains the political merger of evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics who steer the Catholic church into influence and/or funding for GOP causes, judges and other politicians.
If you are not familiar with the conservative Federalist Society that turned SCOTUS into a conservative religious court, its success is attributed to Leonard Leo, a conservative Catholic with 9 kids.
Ryan Girdusky founded the PAC that funds right wing candidates for school boards.
Your country is very fortunate if it can keep conservative Catholicism out of politics, if the Church of England can be prevented from trying to return the country to the dark ages and, if the influence of growing conservative religious sects can be tamped down. They always serve the patriarchy of ruling elites.
The religious right elected Trump.
The Catholic church sought to delay stem cell research in the U.S. because initially embryonic cells were used. During covid, vaccines derived from earlier use of embryonic cells became o.k. with the Church. The Catholic church has a long history of rejecting science. Part of the reason that the Catholic church is erroneously perceived as liberal is that a few Catholic intellectuals during the Scopes Monkey Trial came out in favor of evolutionary science unlike pentecostal protestants.