I'm sure you'd find a way to make an issue out of it no matter what the figures were. I for one am shocked at how under represented buddhism is. And where are the islamic members? Utter mockery of justice
I thought these people were chosen on their own merits rather than for their religious beliefs
In western politics, it pays to be Catholic/Christian.
It hasn't always been that way... well the Catholic part at least. Kennedy was attacked for being Catholic. Check out The making of a Catholic President by Shaun Casey.
In western politics, it pays to be Catholic/Christian.
It hasn't always been that way... well the Catholic part at least. Kennedy was attacked for being Catholic. Check out The making of a Catholic President by Shaun Casey.
Kennedy made it to the Presidency... Let me know when there is a candidate who stands up and says they are Atheist and has a snowflakes chance in hell of getting even considered for President.
And let's not forget:
While taking into consideration the staggering amount of Republicans who DO NOT believe in evolution , McCain then spurts out the memorised line about the hand of God shown when he hikes the grand canyon at sunset.
Why? Because stating that he believes in evolution, given a moment to reflect as the others show their dis-belief in evolution, McCain realises he had best make concession and remembers his well choreographed bullshit line.
Piss off the religious vote, in anyway, your chances of succeeding in politics are nil. The same can be said for the Supreme Court members, for the simple fact that it would take political suicide to appoint an Atheist Judge, can you imagine the outcry from the religious right about stem-cell votes, abortion, etc, etc because a non-religious Judge is on the bench?
To find the last Supreme Court member not affiliated with any church, you have to go back to David Davis (love that name lol) from the Lincoln era!
If Catholicism truly had an impact on the Court, Roe vs Wade would not have ended as it did. I'm quite confident an atheist who runs with the same policies as a religious person could win the presidency. It's about policy, not religion.
If Catholicism truly had an impact on the Court, Roe vs Wade would not have ended as it did. I'm quite confident an atheist who runs with the same policies as a religious person could win the presidency. It's about policy, not religion.
[Southern accent]I ain't lettin' no godless heathen run my country![/southern accent]
If Catholicism truly had an impact on the Court, Roe vs Wade would not have ended as it did. I'm quite confident an atheist who runs with the same policies as a religious person could win the presidency. It's about policy, not religion.
But wasn't there only one Catholic judge involved in that case? So, it's hardly a great example.
I'd say there's a greater chance that an atheist Justice gets appointed than the general public electing an atheist president. For the most part, politicians actually are more open-minded about religion than the public is.
I would guess the real reason why so many Catholics are on the Supreme Court has more to do with the religious makeup of the judicial system. A lot of Catholics become lawyers and then later, judges.
Stingray24 wrote:
If Catholicism truly had an impact on the Court, Roe vs Wade would not have ended as it did. I'm quite confident an atheist who runs with the same policies as a religious person could win the presidency. It's about policy, not religion.
I disagree. I think an openly atheist person would be condemned by many people in the GOP for not having a religion, even if their views were exactly the same as a religious conservative. Look at Romney. He's got pretty much all the standard religious conservative views, but a lot of Republicans didn't want to vote for him because he was Mormon.
Now, admittedly, Romney did get more support than I would have expected. There is clearly less prejudice toward Mormons than I originally thought, but it's still there.
As for Roe vs. Wade, I would agree that religion really wasn't a factor there.
Imo if you're voting on religious lines because the candidate is a certain religion or because the other candidate is a certain religion, or lack there of, that ladies and gentlemen is discrimination and a violation of the 14th ammendment. Though it's unlikely that religion will be the only difference.
I find it kinda sad that religion is so critical to people, so critical that you let it make decisions for you. Voting for a candidate because the person who feeds you your decisions disguised as a sermon said so is sad
We should elect Amish officeholders. They're good, industrious folk.
Also, so what if those members of the Court are the same religion. It's still certain that they don't all think the same way, and thus you're not going to have a bloc of Catholic, abortion-hating, anti-stem-cell folk. You can't stereotype such a wide group of people and assume they all have similar beliefs on everything. I think you'll find the distribution is representative of the larger population. Besides, it's not Catholics you have to watch out for; it's those Kansas-style Evangelical folk
Imo if you're voting on religious lines because the candidate is a certain religion or because the other candidate is a certain religion, or lack there of, that ladies and gentlemen is discrimination and a violation of the 14th ammendment. Though it's unlikely that religion will be the only difference.
I find it kinda sad that religion is so critical to people, so critical that you let it make decisions for you. Voting for a candidate because the person who feeds you your decisions disguised as a sermon said so is sad
We're free to discriminate when choosing our vote in a free country. I'm not sure what you point is since the nominee was not chosen because of her religion, nor was Obama given his orders through a sermon.
We should elect Amish officeholders. They're good, industrious folk.
Also, so what if those members of the Court are the same religion. It's still certain that they don't all think the same way, and thus you're not going to have a bloc of Catholic, abortion-hating, anti-stem-cell folk. You can't stereotype such a wide group of people and assume they all have similar beliefs on everything. I think you'll find the distribution is representative of the larger population. Besides, it's not Catholics you have to watch out for; it's those Kansas-style Evangelical folk
Well, while I agree with the majority of your post, the Court does not represent the general population in any demographic sense. Then again, I'm not saying it should.
Filling seats on the Supreme Court should be a meritocratic process. Granted, it's not exactly that in practice either.
Imo if you're voting on religious lines because the candidate is a certain religion or because the other candidate is a certain religion, or lack there of, that ladies and gentlemen is discrimination and a violation of the 14th ammendment. Though it's unlikely that religion will be the only difference.
I find it kinda sad that religion is so critical to people, so critical that you let it make decisions for you. Voting for a candidate because the person who feeds you your decisions disguised as a sermon said so is sad
We're free to discriminate when choosing our vote in a free country. I'm not sure what you point is since the nominee was not chosen because of her religion, nor was Obama given his orders through a sermon.
True, you're free to vote however you please. However, judging someone based on their religion is not a wise thing, whether it's people voting against atheists because they are atheist or people voting against people of a certain faith because of that faith.
I could even see myself voting for an evangelical if they had more stances I agreed with than their opponents.
Imo if you're voting on religious lines because the candidate is a certain religion or because the other candidate is a certain religion, or lack there of, that ladies and gentlemen is discrimination and a violation of the 14th ammendment. Though it's unlikely that religion will be the only difference.
I find it kinda sad that religion is so critical to people, so critical that you let it make decisions for you. Voting for a candidate because the person who feeds you your decisions disguised as a sermon said so is sad
We're free to discriminate when choosing our vote in a free country. I'm not sure what you point is since the nominee was not chosen because of her religion, nor was Obama given his orders through a sermon.
I know lucky for us Obama was elected, but there were some candidates in the republican primaries who I'm not so sure would have been making their decisions as logically.