Alito's cries of religious persecution are a chilling preview of Supreme Court in another Trump term

[marmar]

Alito’s cries of religious persecution are a chilling preview of Supreme Court in another Trump term
A scary look at Justice Samuel Alito’s extreme version of religious freedom

By AUSTIN SARAT
PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 23, 2024 5:31AM (EST)


(Salon) On Tuesday, Justice Samuel Alito gave another startling indication of how troubled he is by recent changes in American society and law. In an unusual “statement” about a case from Missouri, the justice was clear that, in his view, those changes have advanced an egalitarian and secular agenda at the expense of religious beliefs and practices.

The same day that Alito made his statement, Politico broke a story about what it called “an influential think tank close to Donald Trump” that is “developing plans to infuse Christian nationalist ideas in his administration should the former president return to power.” Politico suggested that “Christian nationalists in America believe that the country was founded as a Christian nation and that Christian values should be prioritized throughout government and public life.”

As the country has become less religious and more diverse, those advancing a Christian nationalist agenda think that “Christians are under assault” and hope to use political and legal means to turn the tide.

Enter Justice Alito. The statement he made this week offers a preview of what a Christian nationalist agenda might look like. ........................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/02/23/alitos-cries-of-religious-persecution-are-a-chilling-preview-of-in-another-term/

[Lovie777]

1. What the psycho so called Christian right is doing to the average Americans?.....................................

especially women. Fuck off.

[Walleye]

2. Christians are under assault? Is it self flagellation

[3Hotdogs]

3. Ameristan needs Jesus.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

4. Shithole Sam thinks he's "under assault"

Because the law prevents him and his christofascist fellow travelers from cramming their dogma down YOUR throat.

[J_William_Ryan]

5. The Christo-fascist right will remain a threat to democracy whether

Trump becomes president or not.

As for the lie that Christians are ‘under attack,’ it represents conservatives’ contempt for Establishment Clause jurisprudence – settled, accepted case law the Supreme Court’s majority of partisan conservative ideologues are willing to overturn.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. Alito isn't done whining about the unpopularity of anti-LGBTQ+ views

The problem isn't just that Justice Alito whined about how unpopular anti-LGBTQ+ views are. He also keeps whining about their unpopularity.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/alito-isnt-done-whining-unpopularity-anti-lgbtq-views-rcna139844

It was hardly the most high-profile case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, but Missouri Department of Corrections v. Jean Finney ended up serving as an unexpected vehicle for one justice’s political commentary. As my MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubin explained:

[The case involved] Jean Finney, a lesbian who sued her employer under state law barring sex discrimination. At trial, her lawyer asked prospective jurors whether they thought that homosexuals shouldn’t have the same rights as everyone else. Potential jurors were dismissed when they cited a religious belief that homosexuality is a sin.

This seemed pretty straightforward. Finney’s lawyer understandably believed that those who had a problem with same-sex relationships would necessarily be skeptical of the plaintiff’s case. Lawyers for the Missouri Department of Corrections objected, saying this amounted to discrimination against those who appeared likely to discriminate.....

But while that effectively brought the matter to a close, Justice Samuel Alito took the opportunity to complain for a while. In a five-page statement, the unabashed conservative agreed with the legal outcome on procedural grounds, but Alito felt compelled to add some additional commentary of his own.

As far as the justice was concerned, it was problematic that jurors were excluded based on their “traditional religious views on questions of sexual morality.”

Alito added, “That holding exemplifies the danger that I anticipated in Obergefell v. Hodges, namely that Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be ‘labeled as bigots and treated as such’ by the government.”

Obergefell, of course, was the landmark 2015 ruling that brought marriage equality to the United States. Alito was among the four dissenters in the case — and he’s apparently still worked up about it......

“You can’t say that marriage is a union between one man and one woman” anymore, Alito whined, as if he were a social conservative candidate appealing for votes. “Until very recently, that’s what the vast majority of Americans thought. Now it’s considered bigotry.”

[Kablooie]

7. Religion is under assault because they are trying to dominate politics.

Politics by it's nature creates opposing forces.
When religion thrusts itself into politics it creates an opposition.
If they stayed out of politics and kept their beliefs within their own communities, no one would have a problem.
When you play politics and try to force your beliefs on people outside of your church, that's when the problems begin.

[OldBaldy1701E]

8. "Until very recently, that's what the vast majority of Americans thought. Now it's considered bigotry."

The 'vast majority'?? Says who? And, was this 'majority' asked in a safe space or were they asked in front of their neighbors with the promise that they will be identified on the spot and in the national media before they gave their responses?

Even in my tiny southern town, it was apparent that there were two positions on this subject. The real one was that very few cared about what others were doing as long as they were not doing evil or illegal things (and the second one was subject to broad interpretation at times...), then there was the position that most everyone had when they were asked in a crowd. Face it... very few people have the spine to stand in front of the entire town and declare that they are in agreement with the people that the rest of the idiots want to kill just because those idiots are bored or in need of a scapegoat for their own sub-par lives.

Face it, we are more afraid of 'going viral' than we are stopping injustice and inequity. Alito is playing to that same mentality. He knows that anyone who disagrees with him is going to become a target. So, he is banking on that fact to keep himself from getting too crucified in social media, which equals good position these days. All of these rethugs bet on the mob to keep them from facing reality.

(You know what amazes me? These evangelicals want to go out and preach to everyone about their faith and demonize those who don't agree with them. Yet, they keep losing numbers and wonder why their faith is not growing. I am sure the fact that their 'kill everything we don't like or just want to kill because it might be fun' mentality has nothing to do with it.)

[Martin Eden]

9. These "Christians" cry PERSECUTION when they're not allowed to impose their narrow minded beliefs on everyone else

I put "Christians" in quotation marks because their so-called "Christian values" include thinly veiled racism, patriarchy, and greed. They ally themselves with the money changers in the temple while short-changing the poor and the sick and villifying the stranger.

They are free to practice their own religion as they please, but actively persecute those who don't conform to their intolerant version of morality in their crusade against the rights of LGBTQ people. The fear and hatred they generate drives kids to suicide and results in violence against those who've long struggled to be recognized as human beings with the same rights as everyone else.

Their assault against women's bodily autonomy and healthcare is putting lives at risk, and further traumatizing victims of rape and incest. Forced pregnancy may lead women away from the family they would have started, and now they're making it harder by criminalizing IVF services.

These rightwing "Christians" have demonstrated more worship for The Fascist Grifter than the teachings of Jesus Christ. They claim to be "patriots" while actively trying to subvert our Constitution and turn America into an authoritarian state ruled by a mentally and morally deranged dictator.

They put the short term profits of polluters ahead of people whose health is destroyed by environmental toxins, while jeopardizing the future of children who will inherit a planet ravaged by catastrophic climate change.

They feel persecuted as more and more people reject their religion, and are utterly blind to the truth that they are their own worst enemies. Good people are turned off by hypocrisy and bigotry, and will stand up against grave threats to our health and our freedoms.

We all must stand together to defeat the existential threats embodied by the likes of TFG and Samuel Alito.