Well E’llo! ChurchMouse here awakening from a glorious slumber. Many have asked Fulcrum7 where my commentary on the rise of Catholicism in American politics has been hiding. Here it is, somewhat concurrent with the rise of radical moral hostility.
The U.S. is entering a period when its commitment to religious liberty is being tested, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito told an audience Wednesday at an event sponsored by a Catholic lawyers' organization.
Alito used his own words from his dissent in the Supreme Court's landmark same-sex marriage case, telling the gathering he had predicted opposition to the decision would be used to "vilify those who disagree, and treat them as bigots." "A wind is picking up that is hostile to those with traditional moral beliefs," Alito said. Quite so, I say.
The speech was sponsored by Advocati Christi, a group of religiously partisan Catholic lawyers and judges who seek to "provide an opportunity for lawyers learn about the Catholic faith and Catholic social teaching and to help them integrate these into their life and practice." Just what we need, more left-footed mackerel snappers in American politics.
In a roughly 45-minute speech that mentioned the Founding Fathers and 19th-century French writer Alexis De Tocqueville as well as Bob Dylan and the 1960s TV sitcom "The Flying Nun," Alito discussed the hostility faced by Catholics in the U.S. over the centuries, and of his own joy as a youth staying up until the wee hours of the morning to witness John F. Kennedy elected as the first Roman Catholic president in 1960.
While religious freedom has been recognized in Congress and in the courts, Alito said, attitudes are slower to change. He recounted a Democratic lawmaker who opposed his nomination in 2005 because Alito would make "too many Catholics on the court."
I interrupt my delightful morning 'spot of tea' and cheese, to point out the obvious. America IS increasingly hostile to traditional morality, and there ARE too many Catholics on the Supreme Court.
Just as Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt, all those Catholic blokes will likely get itchy feet one day to impose Catholic dogma on those of us who prefer the Bible over their tradition.
My advice? Put the dogma in the dustbin, brush the benders away, and stay close to the Scriptures, me lads. The Lord will not fail you.
Tallyho,
ChurchMouse