Supremely Religious

Sid Schwab
4 min readJun 30, 2022

Everything that can be said about the Supreme Court throwing out Roe v. Wade has been said. Nevertheless, some points ought to be reiterated, if for no other reason than to confirm that America is now a theocratic plutocracy. And whereas there are, in theory, things that can be done about it, in practical terms there really aren’t. Theocratic plutocrats have locked it in.

1) Of the six radical-right Justices, five were appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote. The one who wasn’t likely got there by lying (because why would Anita Hill risk it all by making it up). So did at least two others, who, in their hearings, said Roe was settled. And it was only by way of Mitch McConnell’s staggering hypocrisy that the most recent two were seated.

2) Until now, no constitutional right, adjudicated and reaffirmed over a period of fifty years or any time-span, had been rescinded. If that’s not judicial activism, nothing is. If the Sacred Six hadn’t had a bought-and-paid-for political/religious agenda, they could have refused to hear the case. But their agenda is why they’re there. (Grammar lesson.)

3) If respectful discussion between people on opposite sides is impossible, both sides might agree that believing the “personhood” of a fertilized egg is indistinguishable from that of a twenty-week fetus is religious-based. Until now, there wasn’t a right to impose one’s religion on others.

4) At least one-third of pregnancies die in utero; some so early that the woman didn’t know she was pregnant; others at any time during pregnancy: miscarriages. And stillbirths. Not to mention babies dying from neonatal birth defects. If there’s an all-powerful God who knows us before we’re born and has a plan for us all, then He’s as guilty as people who provide or undergo abortion. Also, those who consider abortion at any stage murder, ought to be satisfied knowing that all participants will face celestial judgment. Given the preceding, though, they might as likely receive a heavenly high-five as a ticket to Hell.

4+) If, as many believe, the enwombed human lives ended by the hand of God make it to Heaven, so should innocent, humanly-aborted ones; which would be a reason to rejoice. (Question for another time: if fertilized eggs, fetuses, and babies go to heaven, do they become the people God knew before they were born? If so, why must the rest of us spend a comparative milli-micro-nano-second on Earth?)

5) Pro-choice demonstrations are useless. We can be sure at least three of the Supremes would drink liberal tears if they could, and Trumpists of the airwaves and in their homes love watching them.

6) Alito’s justifications for ending Roe were laughable. Foremost, that abortion isn’t mentioned in a document written on parchment by white, landed, mostly slave-owning men at a time when women and Blacks had no electoral voice. Second-most, that they merely returned the issue to “elected representatives” of the respective states. In which the will of the majority has lately been legislated away, aided and encouraged by the Court. Total cynicism. Proof: the same six just overruled a lower court that tossed Louisiana’s redistricting plan for violating the Voting Rights Act by eliminating a predominantly black district. They know the system is rigged: they’re the riggers.

7) The Sanctified Six don’t believe in religious separation. As shown by their decision favoring Bremerton’s most famous coach, who likes to make a show of praying, with his team, on the fifty-yard line, after games. Ignorant, evidently, of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:5–8.

Writing for the majority, Justice Gorsuch lied, saying he “offered his prayers quietly while his students were otherwise occupied.” He also wrote, “The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.” “Mutual respect” and “nonreligious views alike.” What audacious disingenuousness. Their decision is the opposite. In any case, school prayer is back. Let’s see if the halleluiahs extend to a Muslim teacher unrolling a prayer rug at halftime. Or leading their class in salah.

8) Nor do the Sanctimonious Six accept the Fourteenth Amendment. Wrote Justice Thomas in his concurrence, referring to the decisions that affirmed the right to birth control, LGBT rights, and same-sex marriage, the objections to which are, again, religious-based: “[T]he purported right to abortion is not a form of ‘liberty’ protected by the Due Process Clause … we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process [decisions].” At this point, let’s take the final step and criminalize non-belief. It’s only a matter of time.

Meanwhile, anyone who thinks the January 6 Committee revelations are changing minds should watch this video.

--

--

Sid Schwab

Retired surgeon. Published author. Blogger. Columnist. Losing hope that American democracy can survive Republican attempts to end it.