2009-July

"Can this teach us something today? I certainly think so,... We should be careful, when we read the Sacred Scriptures and have to deal with scientific questions, to not make the same mistake now that was made then. ... I am thinking of stem cells, I am thinking of eugenics, I am thinking of scientific research in these fields. Sometimes I have the impression that they are condemned with the same preconceptions that were used back then for the Copernican theory."

Reuters commented:

"Pagano said it was necessary for today's Church leaders and Vatican officials 'to study more, to be more prudent, evaluate things' when dealing with scientific advances."

"He said that while scientists should not presume they can teach the Church about faith, the Church should not be afraid to approach scientific issues with 'much humility and circumspection'."

"The Catholic Church, other religious groups and anti-abortion advocates oppose embryonic stem cell research -- which scientists hope can lead to cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's -- because it involves the destruction of embryos."

"But the Church supports adult stem cell research, which has made advances in recent years."

"The relationship between religion and science has been tense and tricky for centuries. For example, Christian Churches were long hostile to the evolutionist theories of Charles Darwin because they conflicted with the literal biblical account of God creating the world in six days." ₁

"Two more 'family values' politicians recently bit the dust, as Nevada Senator John Ensign and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford both admitted to extramarital affairs. Prior to that, both men were known as vociferous critics of "immoral," commercial, and non-traditional sexual expression. Each one had, for example, used the power of the government to punish President Clinton for cheating on his wife." ₂

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
2. His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman
3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle
4. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
5. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
7. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
8. Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen
9. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
10. Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper

There were many reasons given: anti-ethnic, anti-family, drugs, homosexuality, nudity, occult/satanism, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group, and violence. ₄
 

"I have been a practicing Christian all my life and a deacon and Bible teacher for many years. My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me, as religious beliefs are to hundreds of millions of people around the world."

"So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention's leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be 'subservient' to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service. This was in conflict with my belief -- confirmed in the holy scriptures -- that we are all equal in the eyes of God."

"This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. It is widespread. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths." ₁₁

"Mickey Nuttal, owner of Sonlight Christian Books and Gifts in Grand Junction, Co., told Christian Retailing that 'if she's a Mormon, I probably wouldn't stock it. If you're going to be a Christian store, be a Christian store'."

"Lois Friesen, owner of Faith and Life Bookstore in Newton, Kan., however, said she would judge the CD on its own merits and definitely consider it 'if it's not contradictory' to Scripture."

"In a presentation during CBA's Industry Conference in January, researcher Kelly Gallagher revealed 18% of Catholics and 7% of Mormons shop at Christian stores." ₇

The court currently has five conservative and four liberal members. This has resulted in innumerable decisions with a 5 to 4 vote, with strict constructionists Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Alito, Scalia, and Thomas often voting as a block. Justice David Souter, a liberal, is retiring. If Judge Sotomayor's appointment is confirmed by the Senate, her generally liberal leaning would maintain the court's balance.

The main topic underlying most of the questioning was diversity of the court. If one views the ideal court as reflecting the makeup of the country as a whole, then the court is currently very unrepresentative. A representative court would have:
 

	Five females and four males, with a female Chief Justice slightly over 50% of the time.
	Seven whites, 1 African American, and one Hispanic,
	Two Roman Catholics, four or five non-Catholic Christians, one or two unaffiliated, and perhaps one non-Christian religious person.

Instead, there the court currently has:

	Only one female.
	No Hispanics,
	Five Roman Catholics, two Jews, two Protestants, and zero unaffiliated.
	A woman has never been the Chief Justice.

If confirmed, Judge Sotomayor would be only the third woman and third non-white justice to serve during the 200 years of the history of the Supreme Court.

Of course, accepting the principle that the Supreme Court justices' sex, race, and religion should be representative of the country as a whole, recognizes that these factors do influence their decisions. Most of the attacks on Judge Sotomayor by Republicans on the Senate committee concentrated on whether she would be influence by her background. A number of TV commentators have suggested that the Republican racist attacks on Sotomayor were based on a desire to win points among white voters for their party.

During a speech that she gave at Berkeley in 2001, she said:

"America has a deeply confused image of itself that is in perpetual tension. We are a nation that takes pride in our ethnic diversity, recognizing its importance in shaping our society and in adding richness to its existence. Yet we simultaneously insist that we can and must function and live in a race- and color-blind way that ignores these very differences that in other contexts we laud. That tension between "the melting pot and the salad bowl"?a recently popular metaphor used to described New York's diversity?is being hotly debated today in national discussions about affirmative action. Many of us struggle with this tension and attempt to maintain and promote our cultural and ethnic identities in a society that is often ambivalent about how to deal with its differences."

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O?Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O?Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn?t lived that life.

Let us not forget that wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race discrimination in our society. Until 1972, no Supreme Court case ever upheld the claim of a woman in a gender discrimination case. I, like Professor Carter, believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group. Many are so capable. As Judge Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues including Brown.

However, to understand takes time and effort, something that not all people are willing to give. For others, their experiences limit their ability to understand the experiences of others. Other simply do not care. Hence, one must accept the proposition that a difference there will be by the presence of women and people of color on the bench. Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see. My hope is that I will take the good from my experiences and extrapolate them further into areas with which I am unfamiliar. I simply do not know exactly what that difference will be in my judging. But I accept there will be some based on my gender and my Latina heritage. ₉

"It was just magnificent. That night, when we stepped in that door, everybody just had a good time. We proved ourselves wrong. We proved the community wrong, because they didn't think that it was going to happen. [The prom is] ... going to continue to go on in our school, and if it continues to go on in our school, then our community will continue to improve. It'll impact them, too, because once they see that blacks and whites can come together in school and have fun together, then they'll see that the community can change, too."

Some white parents wouldn't let their children attend; some insisted on having a private whites-only prom. ₁₀
 

"...the use of fossil fuels harms air quality and public health and is contributing to changes in the global climate that threaten the lives and livelihoods of our neighbors around the world and be it further that the convention affirmed that our Christian response to global warming is a deeply moral and spiritual issue." ₁₂