posted
I once saw a book in a university bookstore many years ago that had a title that really amused me. It was How to Be a Bishop Without Even Being Religious. I suppose it would not be hard to be a citizen of the Vatican without really being Catholic.
The late Samuele Bacchiochi, a Seventh-day Adventist, received his doctorate at the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome. His doctoral thesis is still widely published and distributed today (available through Amazon.com): From Sabbath to Sunday, detailing with copious, copious footnotes the documented history of how the change came about in Rome for Christians to observe Sunday instead of Saturday as the Sabbath. His doctoral dissertation had four official imprimateurs on the title page. School and church authorities knew he was SDA when they granted the imprimateurs. That may not be the same thing as being a citizen of the Vatican, but it is pretty substantial official recognition by the Vatican of a non-Catholic, nonetheless.
Posts: 3742 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:The Court has never been particularly representative of the public as a whole when it comes to religious diversity. The Catholic population of the US reached 12 million (or sixteen percent of the total population) by the beginning of the twentieth century, and has gradually increased ever since to well over seventy million (or one-fourth of the population). Yet today's six Catholics account for exactly half of the Catholic Supreme Justices ever appointed, out of 109 total (according to the most commonly cited source for this subject). That's compared to 35 Episcopalians, representing a denomination which has never numbered more than 3.4 million. Presbyterians (19 Justices) and Unitarians (10) are other grossly over-represented faith communities, while Baptists (3 Justices), Mormons (zero) and of course, the irreligious, are all under-represented.
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: Hey I'm making you guys read something.
quote:Gail Collins:As you noted, Kagan posed in judicial robes for her high school yearbook. It is extremely depressing to think that she’s been positioning herself for this job since puberty, self-censoring her way through life.
However, given the way the confirmation process goes these days, I can’t say it’s a bad strategy. Parents who hope their children may one day sit on the Supreme Court really should think about sending the kids off as soon as they’re weaned — to someplace where they can’t get in trouble or set up a Facebook account. I hear the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is nice.
David Brooks: Gail, I guess my view is that this is what happens to good people when they get caught in a system based on false ideas: make one moral mistake, render one stupid decision or write one controversial essay, and you’ll be disqualified from high office. If they do any of these things then the interest groups on the other side go crazy, we in the press go into a tizzy and the nominee has to step down because he or she has become a “distraction” to the president.
This is a standard that none of us would apply to ourselves and none of us would apply to spouses, friends or family members. We all spend our lives with flawed human beings but somehow expect our court nominees to be without impairment. The result is you get a set of incentives that impairs the careers of brilliant but flawed or prolific people. It rewards the careers of bland mediocrities. In the case of Elena Kagan, it gives a brilliant and gifted person a strong incentive to be reticent and cagey.
Gail Collins: The process of picking a Supreme Court justice has become a joke. Everybody knows that the Judiciary Committee hearings on Kagan will consist of senators asking for her opinion on all the hot button issues of the day, and Kagan responding that she could not in good conscience prejudge a case that might someday come before her. And then she will add something flattering about the Constitution.
Can you imagine what would happen if Justice Swing-Vote Kennedy decided to leave? Or one of the four conservatives? It just wouldn’t get done. Even if they brought back that baby from Svalbard, now grown up into a fine man/woman who graduated top of the class at Harvard Law via extension courses and spent the intervening quarter of a century translating all the major legal tomes in American jurisprudence into Norwegian. With a sideline of rescuing puppies.
David Brooks: I’m not sure I agree that limiting terms to 12 years would reduce the brouhaha. People fight viciously over a four-year presidential term or a two-year House term. In a country where people pass trillions of debt off into the future I’m not convinced anybody is really thinking long term.
I can't get past the first paragraph here. Rant time!
I think it's sad that she considers someone who has made "strategic decisions" based on the VERY high powered career desired to be depressing.
It's like faulting a presidential candidate for NOT doing drugs or cheating on his/her spouse 20 years before ever running because even though that person may have wanted to do those things, they didn't do them because it would make them look bad in the future or to other people. If you are going for a job where someone would pick your life apart, why not lead a life that is immune to that kind of probing? Besides, this woman has been described as a cigar-smoking, sport playing person, it's not like she doesn't know what fun is (I would not describe smoking cigars as fun).
Is is bad when we find our gold medal olympic gymnasts have been working since they were three at the expense of a normal childhood? We might feel bad, a little, but ZOMG! GOLD MEDAL!
Seeing a teenager wear judge robes doesn't strike me as depressing it says big fat dork, who's not afraid to love what she does. Because seriously, no parents can make their teenager do stuff like that. Also, how many women were on the Supreme Court when Kagan dressed up like that? How about zero? It's like dressing up as an Astronaut, but not as common, and also a slightly easier costume to make.
You know, a lot of kids don't grow up to be what they wanted to be when they were little. And some do, because they make a goal and reach it.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
