Thursday, December 05, 2013

Fools rush in....

Did Jesus wear a collar and cuffs?

Rick Warren:

“If a Catholic brother or sister says, ‘Well, we don’t believe in contraception,’ they’ve got that right ... That’s freedom of belief,” Warren said. “The first sentence of the first phrase of the First Amendment –- the first freedom in America is freedom of religion.”

You know, it wasn't that long ago that the Mormon church officially declared African-Americans to bear the "Mark of Cain" (the doctrine changed within Mitt Romney's adulthood).  Yet no one in a post-'64 Civil Rights Act world argued that Mormon owners of a business had a First Amendment right to refuse to hire African-Americans.

As a Constitutional lawyer, Rick Warren makes a fair preacher.

3 comments:

  1. Come now, Rmj. Rick isn't even a fair preacher or writer of books. You'll have to do better than that if you wish to redeem him.

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  2. I quoted a fellow Vermonter yesterday:

    "Could a man charged with burglary or rape find privilege and excuse before any of our courts on a plea that it was an act done in accordance with the religion of the prophet Mercury or the prohet Priapus, and that our Constitution permits the free exercise of religion?"

    http://www.dohiyimir.org/2013/12/the-livery-of-heaven.html

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  3. Mimi--you're right. It's coming on Christmas and I was feeling all warm and charitable. But the season is no reason to lie, is it?

    NTodd--I saw that quote; it was very well chosen. Put me in mind of Scalia's argument in the peyote decision, where he ruled we can't allow everyone to be their own interpreters of the law, which, if you allowed a religious exception every time somebody claimed one, is what would happen.

    I still hold on to the expectation the Supremes will tell Hobby Lobby they aren't a religious organization. We'll see....

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