That Democrats and their Far Left allies would oppose anyone President Trump nominated to the Supreme Court was a given. Although it would be hard to get lower and more vicious
than what they did to Justice Brett Kavanaugh, how far they would go to defeat Trump’s next nominee was still an open question.
The nomination of Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Amy Coney Barrett has now answered that question – and the short version is they will wallow deeply in a kind of religious bigotry we thought had been banished from polite society more than 100 years ago.
No less an arbiter of all things fit to print than the New York Times, via opinion writer Elizabeth Bruenig, threw this swill on Judge Coney Barrett in an otherwise ever so reasonable sounding column:
…Ms. Barrett’s nomination has merely renewed attention to a fundamental conflict, centuries underway, between Catholicism and the American ethos…
In the case of religious tolerance, liberals have historically grappled with the matter of Roman Catholicism…
Roman Catholicism does not readily distinguish between public and private moral obligations. In the thought of John Locke, one of liberalism’s earliest architects, willingness to make that distinction was critical to participation in a tolerant society. “Basically,” the political theorist Jean Bethke Elshtain wrote in a 1999 essay, “Locke drew up a strong civic map with religion within one sphere and government in another. A person could be a citizen of each so long as that citizen never attempted to merge and blend the two.” Locke notably excluded Catholics from the religions meriting toleration because he suspected they could not be trusted to leave their faith in the appropriate sphere.
Locke’s concern was not entirely baseless.
HBO host Bill Maher savaged Judge Coney Barrett for her Roman Catholic faith, “Apparently, the pick is going to be Amy Coney. We’re going to be saying the name a lot because she’s a f***ing nut. Religion, I was right about that one, too,” Maher said. “Amy Coney Barrett. Catholic. Really Catholic. I mean really, really Catholic, like speaking in tongues.”
Likewise, Washington Post book critic Ray Charles suggested that there was something nefarious to Barrett’s statement that she intends to pursue “the kingdom of God.”
Maher, Charles and others are apparently incensed by this line from a speech Judge Coney Barrett gave in a commencement address at Notre Dame law school: “Keep in mind that your legal career is but a means to an end," she told graduates. "That end is building the kingdom of God.”
Or as Ms. Bruenig critiqued Catholicism for The New York Times: “In the case of religious tolerance, liberals have historically grappled with the matter of Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholicism does not readily distinguish between public and private moral obligations.”
How do Democrats and their Far Left allies square nominating for President Joe Biden, a self-described devout Roman Catholic, with their criticism of Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s faith?
Ms. Brunig says “the logic of partisanship has replaced the moral primacy of the faith. That means that, for most Catholics, their religious beliefs never clash with their civic interests in a disruptive way. When they do, the solution is typically some kind of exemption from particular legal or civic obligations.”
In other words, Joe Biden gets a pass because he is devout in Catholic ritual rather than practice. And left unplumbed are those areas, such illegal immigration and various ‘social justice’ causes, where Catholic teachings advance the agenda of the Left. What causes concern about Amy Coney Barrett is that she apparently subscribes to the full spectrum of Catholic Church teachings on the right-to-life, marriage, homosexuality and transgenderism and those Catholic Church teachings might influence a soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Were Ms. Brunig and other critics of Judge Coney Barrett’s faith to take the time to speak with other believers, they might be surprised to learn that the concept of living your faith is not limited to devout Roman Catholics. Many Christians and Jews live their faith outside the walls of their religious institutions – indeed millions subscribe to the idea that the whole point of having religious faith is to have a guide for one’s life beyond the savagery of living to satisfy one’s physical needs.
So, if you are a Christian who lives to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or a Jew who lives according to the Law, the bigotry against Amy Coney Barrett isn’t just bigotry against Roman Catholics. Scratch the surface and you will find it is bigotry against anyone who lives their faith and rejects the secularism of the cultural Left, and if you haven’t experienced it yet, be assured it will come for you eventually.
Our friends at Americans for Limited Government have made it easy to urge your Senators to vote in favor of the confirmation of the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, please click this link to express your support for Amy Coney Barrett and your opposition to the religious bigotry being deployed against her by the Democrats and their Far Left allies.
George Rasley, Managing Editor of Richard Viguerie’s ConservativeHQ.com, is an ordained Elder of the Presbyterian Church and a member of Faith Leaders for America.
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