Voices from Russia

Sunday, 13 July 2014

13 July 2014. A Point to Ponder… The Hobby Lobby Case Made “Evangelicals” a Class of Superior Citizens… Do You Want That?

00.01h Labor Day. Christ.

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00 Art Young. Jesus wanted poster. He stirreth up the people. 1913

Here’s the Christ that I believe in… David Green worships “Jayzuss”, the false idol of the American Radical Sectarians

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I took John Marshall Harlan’s famous dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson and changed the word “colour” to “religion”. It comes out as a ringing denunciation of the judicial travesty just committed by the Roberts Court:

In view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our constitution is colour-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his [religion] when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.

That is, everyone is equal before the law, regardless of their beliefs… that’s fundamental in the USA. However, Hobby Lobby ripped that to shreds. It says that people can weasel out of the law by blubbering about “freedom of religion”. We should fight such evil with all our talents and strength. For instance, people who belong to the “peace churches” must pay federal income taxes, even though much of that money goes to warmongering, which is against their religious beliefs. In like manner, their young men are liable to the draft (with special exemptions against combatant duty or with the option of doing vital civilian service). The peace churches didn’t do what the Greens did… they didn’t use shyster lawyers to wrangle an “exemption” from the law; they worked with the government to fulfil their obligations within the law.

You see, the US Constitution guarantees the rights of PEOPLE, not corporations. Under the US Constitution, Hobby Lobby as a corporation has no rights, for it isn’t a person… it’s only a legal construct fabricated to do business. It doesn’t go bump in the night. David Green certainly has a right to constitutionally protected religious expression and belief, but Hobby Lobby doesn’t, as it isn’t alive, it doesn’t have a soul, and so, it can’t have a religious faith. Hobby Lobby doesn’t attend mass… it doesn’t go to liturgy… it can’t go to services… it can’t go to shul on Shabbos or to the masjid for Friday prayers. To assert that Hobby Lobby has an exemption against a law because of religious faith is absurd, Kafkaesque, and downright weird.

It’s one thing to allow religious groups to “discriminate” in the ordination of their ministers… that’s an internal affair; it only affects members of that faith. However, many, if not most, of David Green’s employees don’t share his faith, so, for him to withhold a benefit on the grounds that it offends his conscience makes him an obstructer of the law… that means that he belongs in the slam. No one is limiting Mr Green’s free exercise of his religion. However, Mr Green is obstructing the free exercise rights of his employees, which means that he shits on the US Constitution and expects applause for so doing. What’s even shoddier is that he cloaks his nastiness in religious vesture, which makes it even worse. Let me reiterate, Mr Green, by vetoing contraceptives for his employees, engages in an illegal pressure tactic to ram his beliefs down his employees’ throats, and he expects the full backing of the state in so doing. That makes “Evangelicals” a privileged class, a situation that Mr Justice Harlan found repugnant. We should take equal outrage… no one should have the right to ram their personal religious notions down another’s throat… full stop.

I’m a believer… no doubt on that score. However, I have no right to ram my beliefs down another’s throat. That’s what David Green is doing. He deserves a Cossack horsewhip across his face for such evil. He brings shame and obloquy on all believers. He can rest easy… his money buys him “respect” and the legal muscle to silence his opponents. Nevertheless, it doesn’t make it right… Our Lord Christ said, Woe those who call good “evil” and evil “good”… don’t forget, the David Greens of His time tacked Him up to a cross for that…

BMD

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Saturday, 12 July 2014

12 July 2014. My Comment in Another Forum on the Hobby Lobby Abomination

tyrant-boot-poster

THIS is David Green’s attitude to the rights of others… only his count, dontcha know! “I’ve got mine and you have NO say at all!” Any questions?

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Corporations aren’t people… ergo, they can’t have religious beliefs. Even the slow learners know that. Therefore, the decision is crank from the git-go. It’s a dodge by the owners to use religion as an excuse to impose their values on others. It’s clear… you may hold whatever belief that you wish, but you may not use the police power of the state to impose it on others. That goes for the Catholic Church, too… many of its employees aren’t Catholics, so, they can’t impose Catholic teachings on them via birth-control restrictions. By the way, I’m not a secularist, I’m an Orthodox Christian… we do allow artificial birth control via oikonomia.

The stipulation is clear… no one may use the law to push their religion or to coerce others to follow this-or-that tenet of their faith. That’s the long and the short of it.

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Let’s give you a little detail that wasn’t in the original comment. The owner of Hobby Lobby, David Green, is a religious nutter (an anti-Christian Pentecostalist) who attributes his success to “my faith in God” (he’s one of the “elect” because he’s “successful”… that idea has bedevilled the Prods ever since the time of Calvin). He takes half of his pre-tax profits and uses it to finance crackbrained “Evangelical” projects such as the so-called “Liberty University” (it’s neither free nor a university in the best sense of the word). If you can avoid it, DON’T patronise Hobby Lobby. Burwell v. Hobby Lobby is bad law… it’s a new Plessy v. Ferguson… it deserves the same fate. It creates a “separate but (in)equal” situation… the rich can use “religious belief” as a cudgel to avoid whatever law they wish to. No real Christian supports this decision… reflect on that… Christ would NOT have used such a tactic, no siree!

BMD

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