[net.legal] religion and public life -- NOW and the Mormon judge

riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (08/07/84)

[Re the judge who was reputedly opposed by NOW because he was a Mormon:]

Wait a minute -- did NOW say, "He's a Mormon, so he must be biased," or
did they look at his rulings and find Mormon bias in them?  There's
quite a difference.  I don't object to the fact that James Watt was a
Christian, but I definitely object to James Watt's pursuit of certain
policies because he believed God had told him to sell off federal
lands.

Judges should be free to follow any religion they choose, but when they
step up on that bench, they have to follow the law.  If they can't
reconcile that with their religious beliefs, they shouldn't accept the
job (or should disqualify themselves from those cases where there is a
conflict, assuming they are few).

--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle

fred@varian.UUCP (Fred Klink) (08/15/84)

Regarding Prentiss Riddle's comments on the Mormon judge and
NOW-- I would go one step further:  I object to James Watt's
(for example) policies because *I disagree with them*.  I don't
care if their origin is religious conviction or pragmatic
economic thinking.  We all carry our biases and prejudices
in every thing we think and do.  The basis of democracy is
to allow the biases and prejudices of the majority to be used
in governing a nation.

The point is, our system has a means for removing those public
figures we disagree with: the vote.  When we begin to accept
other systems (e.g. "throw the bum out, he's a born-again Christian
and bases policy on his religion!"), we are truely in trouble.

		Fred Klink (Varian, Walnut Creek CA)

ab3@pucc-h (Rich Kulawiec) (08/16/84)

	Uh, Fred, can I point out that we didn't *elect* James Watt in
	first place, making a recall vote sort of difficult...
-- 
---Rsk

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