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 | | From: | Terry McCombs | | Subject: | That knock at the door? It's God's police and they've got matches | | Date: | Sat, 22 Jan 2005 16:25:16 -0600 |
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 | Are they inviting you to a barbecue?
Well...... Sort of.
From Canon Fodder is a weekly analysis of politics and society.
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QUOTE:
Want to live in a Right Wing Neo-Christian theocracy?
If your elected officials have their say, you may just get your wish. By
Matt Hutaff
I have no problem with faith. In fact, I find it inspiring when people
can dedicate their life so completely to a belief or an intangible.
After all, when such dedication reaps a dividend of compassion,
tolerance and understanding, we all win. However, as we've seen of late,
faith seems to be more of a crutch for hatred, misunderstanding and a
fundamental lack of awareness of the origins of said beliefs.
But you know what? As much as it pains me to admit, people are entitled
to live in the dark, and there isn't a law on the books that says
someone can't be a miserable hypocrite. Some people just don't want
their eyes opened, and as long as their misguided beliefs don't intrude
with mine, I have no quarrel with them.
I do have issues with those who would choose to force their morality on
another, particularly when the onus of debate isn't even correct.
There are hundreds of different faiths co-existing (sometimes tenuously)
in the United States of America; what makes one any better than the
other?
As far as the federal government should be concerned, nothing save that
now we have a president who really thinks that god speaks directly to
him and this god tells him he and his bunch are right and everyone else
is wrong and he is a notoriously vindictive little man.
All of this could change this year, though. A bill that has been quietly
brewing in the minds of the religious right for the better part of two
decades has made it to the floor of both the House and the Senate. If
passed into law, America is one Pentagon Prayer Meeting from a
theocracy.
The bill is the Constitutional Reform Act of 2004 (H.R. 3799 and S
2082). Supported by the likes of Senator Sam Brownback and disgraced
Justice Roy Moore (the wingnuts who are trying to shut down Howard Stern
and position the Ten Commandments in federal courthouses, respectively),
it takes its cues from Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution by
empowering Congress to decide what cases the Supreme Court can and
cannot hear.
Sounds fairly innocuous, right? Wrong. Read on:
"Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter," it reads, "the
Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction to review ... any matter to
the extent that relief is sought against an element of Federal, State,
or local government, or against an officer of Federal, State, or local
government (whether or not acting in official personal capacity), by
reason of that element's or officer's acknowledgment of God as the
sovereign source of law, liberty, or government." (emphasis mine)
What's this mean? Simply put, the Constitutional Reform Act makes God's
law the law, trumping federal jurisdictions entirely. Theoretically, a
man could be brought up on sodomy charges and stoned to death, or
squads could be formed to hunt down and kill witches (who after all we
much not suffer to live, it's in the "Good Book" so that makes it
religious) and the federal and Supreme court would be unable to review
the case.
Even worse, the bill's vague language would act to silence judges who
might rely on law from other countries but other states in arriving at
their decisions:
"In interpreting and applying the Constitution of the United States, a
court of the United States may not rely upon (emphasis mine) any
constitution, law, administrative rule, Executive order, directive,
policy, judicial decision, or any other action of any foreign state or
international organization or agency, other than the constitutional law
and English common law."
Imagine a judge forced to resign for being progressive enough to look to
other parts of the globe and consider their judgments on a similar case.
It could happen under this legislation. Even in the hands of the most
responsible judiciary, this is a nightmare waiting to happen.
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the following is a link to the actual Act's listing at the Library of
Congress legislative website:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c108:1:./temp/~c108iZkDpz::
If it has expired by the time you wish to view it then simply go to
http://thomas.loc.gov/
and search the 108th Congress for H.R. 3799 listed as the Constitution
Restoration act of 2004.
END QUOTE
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