Like the New Look?

I got the above from an email that a friend of mine sends out every now and then with socially/political relevant information. This new Supreme Court justice nominee, John Roberts, was the subject of this particular email, and I found this article to be interesting, if not a bit waffly. It wasn't something I'd considered....the idea that someone with religious tenets that could sway their judgement--i.e. if they made a judgement in certain cases, their Eternal Life could be called into question by their church--might be banned from hearing those cases. Of course personal interest questions make sense in terms of whether the judge would stand to profit financially, etc. from a decision, but after what happened to John Kerry and the Catholic Church, I guess this is a logical thing to ask.

And as the article points out, that could be extended to Protestants, Jews, Muslims--basically anybody. So who is allowed to hear abortion cases? Euthanasia cases? Basically the most important stuff? I guess, by default, atheists.

That got me thinking, then, about the role religion plays in people's lives. I've already been on edge for awhile about the way that religious life is seeping into mainstream life (which is not to say I have any grudge about people having religious beliefs....I have them myself....it's just that when I want to listen to Christian music, I'll put on a Christian station, and when I want mainstream music, I'll put on the mainstream music. Now it seems I get Christian music whether I want to or not), and yet, funnily enough, Christians still think they've got the short end of the stick. I heard Karla say once that all Christians were in the minority. I wanted to say something to the effect of are you so sure about that? because it seems like the bulk of today's political leaders are outspokenly Christian, and therefore are enacting laws and social mores that fit their views. I've never felt like more of a minority in my life. Which makes me wonder if "feeling" like a minority is really more mental than it is anything concrete and quantifiable. Perhaps Christians are trained to feel like they're in the minority, even when they're not. Perhaps we all are.

So back to this musing on "Catholics Need Not Apply"--clearly in any other setting, this would be blatant discrimination based on religious beliefs. But what if your religious beliefs would prevent you from doing your job properly?

I have a lot more thoughts on this, but at the risk of spending all day here I'll take more time to compile them and post later.