A Matter of Principle?
Sam
Roberts Jr. as nominee for the Supreme Court. It's interesting to
speculate what impact such a new judge will have on a number of
controversial issues. Some argue that separation of Church and State
and property rights are the two key principles to keep in mind.
Churches typically have strong views on sexual and reproductive issues,
such as on gay sex and gay marriage, abortion, adultery, pre-marital
sex, prostitution, married priests, women bishops, divorce, the Pill,
IVF, surrogate mothers, cloning and genetic manipulation. Similarly,
the Church has strong views on issues like euthanasia and drugs. On
issues such as abortion and euthanasia, churches typically argue that,
say, the Ten Commandments are clear, such as "thou shallt not kill".
However, can the Ten Commandments be taken as a principle for a modern
society? What is the principle behind legislation that permits alcohol
and prohibits marijuana? Is the crucial difference that Jesus happened
to drink wine, but that Mohammed rejected alcohol?
Indeed, there are different views between the various religions and
churches on some of these issues. Positions on issues such as the use
of marijuana versus alcohol often seem based on cultural differences,
which are in turn based on different religions. In the Middle East,
polygamy is not prohibited, while marijuana is commonly used, whereas
alcohol is strictly prohibited. In the western world, it's common for
children in cases of splitt-ups to go to the mother, whereas women and
children have less say in things in the Middle East.
But should the Suppreme Court assess such issues from one specific
religious perspective in the first place, or should their judgements
instead be based on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? How much
different is the Constitution and the Bill of Rights from the Ten
Commandments, or from, say, Sharia Law?
An interesting case in this regard is the $10,000 reward for
information leading to the capture and arrest of Warren Jeffs,
president of the 10,000-member Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints. Jeffs reputedly has 70 wives and is now wanted for
alledgedly arranging for a 16-year-old girl to be married to a man who
was already married.
The present crackdown began in 2002, when Tom Green, 37, was convicted
of child rape after impregnating his 13-year-old "spiritual wife". Mr
Green, who lived with his 5 wives and 29 children in a trailer home
camp in Utah, was the first polygamist prosecuted in the state in half
a century.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1694944,00.html
Interesting is the reasoning behind such cases. Is it polygamy that is
prohibited in principle? Or, is it merely the age of the respective
girls that makes this a crime? What is the principle?
Sam
References:
PROPERTY RIGHTS
- File sharing. The High Court recently declared that one can be sued
for encouraging copyright infringement, even when your product or
service has an otherwise legitimate use
http://groups.google.com.au/group/morality/msg/ecdff6879fe2c69c
- eminent domain
http://groups.google.com.au/group/morality/msg/6598b57204263c9f
DRUGS
- Federal Government can ban possession of medical marijuana in states
where it's legal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060600564.html
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
- Same-sex marriage, which is already legal in Belgium, the Netherlands
and Spain, with legislation pending in Canada
http://groups.google.com.au/group/discussion/browse_thread/thread/d3648242d60bc745/34f35cb97a7cdd5e#34f35cb97a7cdd5e
- Public display of Ten Commandments
http://groups.google.com.au/group/morality/browse_thread/thread/6f0bd6a86af9702c
- Pledge at public school
http://groups.google.com.au/group/humanities/msg/66db08aa3cf4552a
- Ten Commandments
http://groups.google.com.au/group/morality/msg/e7dc4ef52fbef512
- Women Bishops
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4670631.stm