The Huffington Post says “Losing
Faith.” Indeed.
One wonders what Nino Scalia would have
thought if the case were that of the Dearborn City Council starting
each session with a sermon from the local imam, and a Christian
applicant pastor had been given a date in 2017 when he could present
the invocation.
One wonders if the Catholic Court, as
it should be designated in history, envisions that each locality will
take its cue from the local ballpark, where the home team is accorded
preference, and use its own religion to adorn the various local
governmental public sessions. “Ah, I see the Methodist minister
presiding, it must be Terre Haute.” Or the North Philadelphia
court starts with a Catholic prayer, while Center City has a moment
of Quaker silence, and Elkins Park entertains the presence of Rabbi
Rubinowitz. Forget this e pluribus unum, let's go to e
unis plura. After all, isn't that freer?
Or, since we now understand that free
speech rights accrue to corporations in this new world, perhaps a
city under pressure of losing bets in its retirement fund would
actually name the court in honor of a business: The Wawa-Chester
County Court of Common Pleas.
But why stop there, why not put it
together? Let's have the Oakland Clorox Catholic Traffic Court, the
Augusta Georgia Jew-haters Municipal Library, the LDC Salt Lake City
Borax Court House. Localism! Business! Religion! Money! Man,
it's just FREEDOM, isn't it, Nino, and Sam, and Tony, and Silent
Clarence, and Mr. Chief Justice Smilin' John Roberts?
We are used to Democracy, we think it
won't fade. But it can. Many think democracy is not a “natural”
state of affairs, that winner-take-all is more natural. Some think
that we are already a plutocracy, not a democracy. Push, push, push,
and you can lose the hard won true freedoms that become invisible in
their familiarity.
In history, there are few rivals to the
pernicious influence of money and religion. The Catholic Court is
giving full reign to them. God help us.