E Pluribus Unum

A few months ago, James Dobson's Family Research Council organized Justice Sunday: Stopping the Filibuster Against People of Faith. I found it insulting, to say the least, that the filibuster of a self-professed Christian was being pitched as a battle between the God-fearing and the Godless.

And not only insulting, but beside the point. Here's what I said back then:

This battle is most certainly NOT about religion. This is about the Constitution and whether we, as a people, will continue to pledge our allegiance to it.

In short, you are either for the Constitution or you are against it...

As soon as we surrender the Constitution to a higher authority, as soon as we accept some higher authority in our self-governance, the moment we pledge ultimate allegiance to the church or the synagogue or the mosque or the temple, and not the Constitution of the United States of America, in that moment we will lose the essential liberties and freedoms that this country was born to protect.

Now comes Justice Sunday II: God Save the United States and this Honorable Court! Among the speakers will be Phyllis Schlafly, who says this:

What the Supreme Court does is of tremendous importance to all Christians. We know, as Chief Justice (William) Rehnquist has said, that the Supreme Court is demonstrating hostility to religion, and we want to bring that to a stop....it is important for the Congress to act on its Article III power to take away jurisdiction from the court on those areas where we don't trust them -- starting with the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, the definition of marriage and the Boy Scouts.

Here's the thing: Not only do I think she's wrong, I think her view is destructive to our way of governance.

So, Phyllis, if you want our government to answer to Jesus instead of the Constitution, if you believe that our government should take its marching orders from fundamentalist clergy, then go live somewhere else. We fought a war in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban, and I'm hoping (praying!) that we don't see the mullahs hijack the new Iraqi constitution.

Hey -- I know! -- why doesn't Phyllis go live in Iran!

On the other hand, I think the following people are right:

Chuck Currie, a United Church of Christ (UCC) seminarian in-care of the Central Pacific Conference of the UCC:

[Justice Sunday II] is a gross misuse of the Christian faith for partisan political purposes and as such should be condemned by all Christians and people of faith despite party affiliation or ideology.

Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar, General Secretary, National Council of Churches USA:

It is damaging to the legitimacy of the confirmation process to suggest that the necessary and comprehensive examination of a nominee's record, as well as support for or opposition to a nominee is in any way religiously motivated.

Ms. Mirin Kaur Phool, President, Board of Directors, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund

The judiciary has long upheld the Constitutional guarantee of free exercise of religion and separation of church and state that make our nation the most religiously diverse and robust democratic country in the world. It is troubling when people of faith are calling for the courts themselves to break down the wall separating church and state that has protected the right to freely exercise their beliefs.

Rev. Bill Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalist Association:

No person or group can honestly claim to represent 'the' single authentic faith perspective on a given issue. Americans of faith and good will differ on the issues facing our country today, but those differences should never be cause for questioning another's faith or patriotism.

There are not two sides to this issue.

Or to paraphrase John Rogers: "Everybody who believes that the Constitution is the highest authority in our system of governance, over here. Everybody who wants to follow the orders of fundamentalist clergy, over there. Thank you very much. Good luck with that."

(HT to Frederick Clarkson)