메뉴 건너뛰기

?

단축키

Prev이전 문서

Next다음 문서

크게 작게 위로 아래로 댓글로 가기 인쇄
?

단축키

Prev이전 문서

Next다음 문서

크게 작게 위로 아래로 댓글로 가기 인쇄


The U.S. Supreme Court nomination debate heating up since Justice Anton Scalia’s recent death is a historical moment for all Americans, especially Christians. The next Justice joining the Supreme Court will be a member of a very exclusive group whose decisions they make about our country will have far-reaching effects.
A law professor once made a comment about the U.S. Supreme Court that the individual justices on that court have a greater impact and influence on our society’s daily lives than either the President or any member of Congress. When you consider the full spectrum of cases they make final decisions on that shape our culture and society this is so true. One well-known example of this is the Miranda case. Everyone knows Miranda from movies and TV. But did you know that it originated from a Supreme Court case out of AZ in 1966? Ernesto Miranda confessed to a crime but the Supreme Court decided police must first advise a suspect of the constitutional rights against self-incrimination and the right to a lawyer. And thus to be Mirandized is to be advised “You have the right to remain silent, if you give up that right anything you say . . .” well, you know the rest.
Miranda was a 5-4 majority vote decision (so only 5 of 9 justices are needed to decide the law of the land!). Furthermore, the justices decide which 100 cases or so that they will even consider each year which is less than 3% of the thousands of possible cases filed for review. They’re influence throughout U.S. history is tremendous. They decided desegregation in public schools in 1954. They decided the 2000 presidential election. Recent cases involved issues of free speech, voting rights, campaign contributions, race-based college admissions and death penalty laws. All lives are touched, regardless of socio-economic class.
But in the Christian context, they’ve decided many controversial issues such as gay marriage, prayer in the school, creationism vs. science in education and abortion. You may be frustrated with the way the Court has seemingly decided against Christian values. God has been systematically removed from our culture and educational system. I think what has been occurring is that the American public is realizing for the first time that Christian traditions such as prayer in the school are technically unconstitutional under the doctrine of separation of church and state and that a vocal minority of non-Christians can successfully challenge these traditions in court and win. But did you know for the first time in the 225 year history of the Court, none of the justices are Protestant Christian? All are either Roman Catholic or Jewish and all are Ivy League law school grads.
The Republican controlled Senate is attempting to block President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee until after the presidential election in the Fall (although, the thought of a President Trump making his choice for Supreme Court is probably a shock to their senses). Judge Scalia’s replacement may very well turn out to be the pivotal swing vote to break the tie between an equally divided conservative and liberal Court. It’s likely in the coming years the Court will re-visit the landmark cases such as abortion as well as capital punishment to name a few. So I hope you see just how influential these Justices can be and take notice of the judicial process whose decisions ripple and reverberate across our entire country for generations. Does that make you sit up and take notice with a greater sense of urgency to vote in the Fall? I hope so. This is both our civil right and responsibility as Christian Americans.


From Pastor Mark’s Heart
March 20, 2016


List of Articles
번호 제목 글쓴이 날짜 조회 수
» The Law of the Land NCFC 2016.03.20 141
179 Like a Child NCFC 2016.03.13 86
Board Pagination Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... 93 Next
/ 93
SCROLL TOP