Mirror of Justice

A blog dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory.
Affiliated with the Program on Church, State & Society at Notre Dame Law School.

Thursday, July 7, 2005

Prayers for London

By Rick Garnett

Notre Dame law student Brendan Loy has lots of links up about the terrorist attacks in London. 

And, a telegram sent by Cardinal Angelo Sodano states:  "Deeply saddened by the news of the terrorist attacks in central London, the Holy Father offers his fervent prayers for the victims and for all those who mourn[.] . . .  While he deplores these barbaric acts against humanity, he asks you to convey to the families of the injured his spiritual closeness at this time of grief. . . .  Upon the people of Great Britain, he invokes the consolation that only God can give in such circumstances[.]"

Rick

China Arrests Catholic Bishop

By Rick Garnett

Here is a story about the arrest of Bishop Jia Zhiguo, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Zheng Ding in Hebei province.  A reminder, I suppose, about how blessed we are, in terms of religious freedom, and about what really matters in the effort to preserve and spread that freedom.

Rick

USCCB on the Supreme Court Vacancy

By Susan Stabile

Here is the letter sent by the BIshop Skylstad, current president of the USCCB, to President Bush regarding the qualities the should be considered in selecting  replacement for Justice O'Connor.  Over at Open Book, Amy Welborn asks whether the letter is helpful or whether it "make[s] the bishops sound as if they think the Supreme Court is a legislative body?"

Radio piece on Noah Feldman's book

By Rick Garnett

Thanks to Melissa Rogers, of Wake Forest University, for passing on this link to an "OnPoint" radio program, "Keeping the Faith," discussing Noah Feldman's new book, "Divided By God."

Rick

Cardinal Schonborn on Evolution

By Rick Garnett

Christoph Cardinal Schonborn published an op-ed in today's New York Times, "Finding Design in Nature," about the teaching of the Catholic Church and "neo-Darwinism."  Here is a bit:

The Catholic Church, while leaving to science many details about the history of life on earth, proclaims that by the light of reason the human intellect can readily and clearly discern purpose and design in the natural world, including the world of living things.

Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense - an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection - is not. Any system of thought that denies or seeks to explain away the overwhelming evidence for design in biology is ideology, not science.

Rick

Laycock on "Neutrality" and the Ten Commandments

By Rick Garnett

Professor Doug Laycock, who needs no introduction to MOJ readers, has this essay over at Legal Times magazine, "How To Be Religiously Neutral."  Here is a line that strikes me as very interesting and provocative:  "The Court would do better to say that some endorsements of religion don't do enough harm to justify the costs of striking them down, rather than to implausibly deny that they are not endorsements at all."

Rick

Tuesday, July 5, 2005

Our Blog Roll Swells

By Rick Garnett

Observant readers may have noticed that we have had a pretty skimpy blog roll and list of links. We just decided to beef them up, in part as a tip of hat to the many blogs that link to us on their rolls, but also to point our readers to the many blogs out there that are relevant to our interests and worth reading. We've also added some links to websites for interesting periodicals and helpful source materials You'll see that our additions reflect the ideological/political/intellectual diversity to which we are committed here at MOJ. Another tip of the hat to Tom and Rick for coming up with most of the links, and to the official MOJ techno-Yoda, Rob "Come here, I Need You" Watson, for setting all this up.

--Mark

Judge Noonan at Villanova on Murray

By Rick Garnett

I am delighted to announce that the Honorable John T. Noonan, Jr., who should need no introduction to MOJ readers, will deliver the Keynote Address at Villanova's September 16 conference on the Legacy of John Courtney Murray, S.J for Law and Politics. His noon address surely will be a highlight of the conference. I will be posting registration info within the next two weeks; feel free to email me if you would like info before then.

--Mark

"Give Me Death"

By Rick Garnett

John Blume, of the Cornell Death Penalty Project, has published in Legal Affairs magazine this very thoughtful essay, "Give Me Death:  A Lawyer Explains Why a Client Decided to Volunteer for Execution," on a subject about which I and others have blogged many times here at MOJ.  Here's my own take on the death-row-volunteer problem.

Rick

Two Items of Interest to MOJ Readers

By Michael Perry

These two items, from this morning's NYT, will be of interest to many MOJ readers--especially those engaged by the controversy about whether government should extend the benefit of law to same-sex unions.

The Heterosexual Revolution

Stephanie Coontz
Olympia, Wash.

THE last week has been tough for opponents of same-sex marriage. First Canadian and then Spanish legislators voted to legalize the practice, prompting American social conservatives to renew their call for a constitutional amendment banning such marriages here. James Dobson of the evangelical group Focus on the Family has warned that without that ban, marriage as we have known it for 5,000 years will be overturned.

My research on marriage and family life seldom leads me to agree with Dr. Dobson, much less to accuse him of understatement. But in this case, Dr. Dobson's warnings come 30 years too late. Traditional marriage, with its 5,000-year history, has already been upended. Gays and lesbians, however, didn't spearhead that revolution: heterosexuals did.

[To read the rest of this interesting op-ed, click here.]

United Church of Christ Backs Same-Sex Marriage

ATLANTA, July 4 - The United Church of Christ became the first mainline Christian denomination to support same-sex marriage officially when its general synod passed a resolution on Monday affirming "equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender."

The resolution was adopted in the face of efforts to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. It was both a theological statement and a protest against discrimination, said the Rev. John H. Thomas, the president and general minister of the denomination, which has 6,000 congregations and 1.3 million members.

"On this July 4, the United Church of Christ has courageously acted to declare freedom, affirming marriage equality, affirming the civil rights of gay - of same-gender - couples to have their relationships recognized as marriages by the state, and encouraging our local churches to celebrate those marriages," Mr. Thomas said at a news conference after the vote by the General Synod.

[To read the rest of this report, click here.]
_______________

mp

 

Previous Articles More Articles

Recent Posts

Categories

Monthly Archive