{"id":69076,"date":"2019-01-09T15:31:48","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T22:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=69076"},"modified":"2019-01-09T15:31:48","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T22:31:48","slug":"should-religious-believers-be-permitted-to-serve-in-the-american-judiciary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/should-religious-believers-be-permitted-to-serve-in-the-american-judiciary.html","title":{"rendered":"Should religious believers be permitted to serve in the American judiciary?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>
The Bill of Rights\u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain): \u00a0It looks a bit faded, doesn\u2019t it?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, in its entirety, reads the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But who cares, really? \u00a0Wasn\u2019t it written by dead white males? \u00a0Some of our elected elite seem to feel free to ignore it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSenators\u2019 bigotry threatens all believers \u2013 The left gets closer to stifling public expressions of faith\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocratic Congresswoman Calls Out Fellow Democrats for \u2018Religious Bigotry\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And compare this, from the New York Times<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dogma of Dianne Feinstein\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Strictly speaking, of course, by effectively barring Catholics, Evangelical Protestants, Orthodox Jews, and Latter-day Saints from appointment to the federal judiciary, Congress woudn\u2019t really be making a law<\/em>. \u00a0Especially if the Senators involved didn\u2019t expressly say<\/em> that committed members of such groups were prohibited from serving as judges. \u00a0The rule could be applied tacitly<\/em>, on a seemingly ad hoc<\/em> basis; evidence of unacceptably orthodox views or of too faithful acherence could simply be silently reckoned a fatal defect, justifying the rejection of their nominations.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But then there\u2019s that pesky Article 6, Clause 3, of the Constitution:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Interpreted straightforwardly and at face value, this passage\u2019s prohibition of \u201creligious tests\u201d for the holding of public office would seem to suggest that candidates for public office shouldn\u2019t be subjected to religious tests.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps I\u2019m just too unsophisticated to grasp how it could be constitutional to bar people, effectively, from appointment to the federal judiciary because they\u2019re devout mainstream Catholics or Evangelical Protestants or Orthodox Jews or even, terrible thought!, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We have, though, clearly entered very interesting times, when the faith of literally scores of millions of Americans can be publicly cited as grounds for concern about admitting them to full participation in civic life. \u00a0I\u2019ll bet, though, that it won\u2019t disqualify them from paying taxes!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.\u201d \u00a0 So, in its entirety, reads the First […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nShould religious believers be permitted to serve in the American judiciary?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/should-religious-believers-be-permitted-to-serve-in-the-american-judiciary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should religious believers be permitted to serve in the American judiciary?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; 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