http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/nation/12888858.htm
Miers' religion takes center stage
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The White House tried yesterday to patch a growing fissure in
the Republican Party over Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers by pointing
to her conservative religious beliefs. "Part of Harriet Miers' life is her
religion," President Bush said.
Bush defended his nomination, saying Miers was highly qualified, a
trailblazer in the law in Texas and someone who would strictly interpret
the Constitution - something his conservative supporters want evidence to
support. He said his advisers' comments about Miers' church-going were
meant to give people a better understanding of his little-known nominee.
"People are interested to know why I picked Harriet Miers," he said. "They
want to know Harriet Miers' background. They want to know as much as they
possibly can before they form opinions. Part of Harriet Miers' life is her
religion."
Conservatives might well argue that it would be better if she had a
judicial record to examine, and the remarks didn't sit well with critics on
the left.
Yesterday, James Dobson, founder of the conservative Focus on the Family,
said that before Miers was nominated, deputy White House chief of staff
Karl Rove reassured him that she was an "evangelical Christian, that she is
from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life."
Religion was an area the White House carefully avoided in pushing the chief
justice nomination of John Roberts just a month ago. During his
confirmation hearings, Roberts sought to assure senators that his rulings
would be guided by his understanding of the law, not by his personal views.
"My faith and my religious beliefs do not play a role," said Roberts, who
is Catholic.
"The White House and the religious right leaders rallying around the
beleaguered nomination of Harriet Miers continue to cite her religious
beliefs and the church she attends as reasons to believe she will oppose
abortion rights and to bolster support for her among activists on the far
right," said Ralph Neas, director of the liberal People for the American
Way. "What's wrong for John Roberts can't be right for Harriet Miers."
The Rev. Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for the Separation of
Church and State, said anyone who tried to bring up the topic of religion
during the Roberts confirmation was labeled a bigot. "Now Bush and Rove are
touting where Miers goes to church and using that as a selling point," Lynn
said. "The hypocrisy is staggering."
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Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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