{"id":78483,"date":"2019-09-25T23:17:58","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T05:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=78483"},"modified":"2019-09-26T23:27:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T05:27:01","slug":"returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html","title":{"rendered":"Returning to the political serenity of the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Hague Netherlands Temple \u00a0\u00a0(LDS.org public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Well, the navigation equipment failed on the KLM plane that I was to take from Helsinki to Amsterdam, so I missed my Delta flight from Amsterdam to Salt Lake City. \u00a0Seven hours later, I caught another KLM flight from Finland to the Netherlands and I also got the very last available seat (back row, window) on a KLM\/Delta partnered flight from the Netherlands to Utah. \u00a0When we arrived, I was the very last passenger off of the plane. \u00a0(Some of the flight attendants deplaned before I did.) \u00a0Unfortunately, though, my luggage didn\u2019t make the transatlantic flight along with me.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I love to fly, and it shows.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some readers may have noticed that I\u2019m not exactly a passionate supporter of President Donald J. Trump. \u00a0(I\u2019ll probably weigh in on the impeachment issue, but not tonight.) \u00a0And, for what it\u2019s worth, I don\u2019t believe that he has a genuinely religious bone in his body. \u00a0But I\u2019m pleased at this:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump Stands Up for Religious Freedom:\u00a0He champions the issue at the U.N. more vigorously than any of his predecessors.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the most recent vacancy came up on the Supreme Court of the United States of America, President Trump chose Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill it. \u00a0I supported Judge Kavanaugh\u2019s nomination, but I had hoped that the president would choose Judge Amy Coney Barrett instead. \u00a0And now, given ongoing questions about the health of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, discussions about Judge Barrett are surfacing again. \u00a0(It would, of course, be a good thing, politically and tactically speaking, to nominate a woman to replace a woman, although I really don\u2019t like the idea of a specific \u201cwoman\u2019s seat\u201d on the Supreme Court bench.) \u00a0Here is a recent intra-conservative exchange about Judge Barrett:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAmy Coney Barrett Is Not a Safe Pick for the Supreme Court. \u00a0Her writings on faith and jurisprudence should worry conservatives.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAttack on Judge Amy Coney Barrett Completely Misfires\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In case you care, I side with the second author.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, here\u2019s another interesting article about religion and the High Court:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cChristianity at the Supreme Court: From majority power to minority\u00a0rights\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, finally, here\u2019s a significant news article from the totally reliable\u00a0Babylon Bee<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNation\u2019s Murderous Psychopaths Undecided On Whether They\u2019ll Follow New Gun Laws\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, just in case you were frustrated by my failure to discuss the possible impeachment of President Trump, here\u2019s something to tide you over until I get to it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Addition To Impeachment, Democrats Announce Plans To Get Involved In A Land War In Asia\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 Well, the navigation equipment failed on the KLM plane that I was to take from Helsinki to Amsterdam, so I missed my Delta flight from Amsterdam to Salt Lake City. \u00a0Seven hours later, I caught another KLM flight from Finland to the Netherlands and I also got the very last available seat (back […]<\/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":[2100,2097,2358],"class_list":["post-78483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-religious-freedom","tag-religious-liberty","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nReturning to the political serenity of the United States<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Well, the navigation equipment failed on the KLM plane that I was to take from Helsinki to Amsterdam, so I missed my Delta flight from\" \/>\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\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Returning to the political serenity of the United States\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Well, the navigation equipment failed on the KLM plane that I was to take from Helsinki to Amsterdam, so I missed my Delta flight from\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-26T05:17:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-27T05:27:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/11\/hague-netherlands-mormon-temple-1088316-gallery.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html\",\"name\":\"Returning to the political serenity of the United States\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-26T05:17:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-27T05:27:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    Well, the navigation equipment failed on the KLM plane that I was to take from Helsinki to Amsterdam, so I missed my Delta flight from\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Returning to the political serenity of the United States\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Returning to the political serenity of the United States","description":"    Well, the navigation equipment failed on the KLM plane that I was to take from Helsinki to Amsterdam, so I missed my Delta flight from","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Returning to the political serenity of the United States","og_description":"    Well, the navigation equipment failed on the KLM plane that I was to take from Helsinki to Amsterdam, so I missed my Delta flight from","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2019-09-26T05:17:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-27T05:27:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/11\/hague-netherlands-mormon-temple-1088316-gallery.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html","name":"Returning to the political serenity of the United States","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-09-26T05:17:58+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-27T05:27:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    Well, the navigation equipment failed on the KLM plane that I was to take from Helsinki to Amsterdam, so I missed my Delta flight from","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/returning-to-the-political-serenity-of-the-united-states.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Returning to the political serenity of the United States"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}