9th Circuit: High School Must Recognize Fellowship of Christian Athletes

In Fellowship of Christian Athletes v. San Jose Unified School District Board of Education, (9th Cir., Aug. 29. 2022), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, ordered reinstatement of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as an official student club at San Jose high schools.  The majority said in part:

This case pits two competing values that we cherish as a nation: the principle of non-discrimination on the one hand, and the First Amendment’s protection of free exercise of religion and free speech on the other hand.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) requires students serving in leadership roles to abide by a Statement of Faith, which includes the belief that sexual relations should be limited within the context of a marriage between a man and a woman. The San Jose Unified School District ... revoked FCA’s status as an official student club at its high schools, claiming that FCA’s religious pledge requirement violates the School District’s non-discrimination policy.

... Under the First Amendment, our government must be scrupulously neutral when it comes to religion: It cannot treat religious groups worse than comparable secular ones. But the School District did just that.

The School District engaged in selective enforcement of its own non-discrimination policy, penalizing FCA while looking the other way with other student groups. For example, the School District blessed student clubs whose constitutions limited membership based on gender identity or ethnicity, despite the school’s policies barring such restricted membership. The government cannot set double standards to the detriment of religious groups only.

Judge Lee filed a concurring opinion, saying in part:

One schoolteacher called the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ (FCA) beliefs “bullshit” and sought to ban it from campus. Another described evangelical Christians as “charlatans” who perpetuate “darkness” and “ignorance.”...

This is not, to put it mildly, neutral treatment of religion. More than a whiff, a stench of animus against the students’ religious beliefs pervades the Pioneer High School campus. I write separately to highlight the depth of that animus and explain why it is yet another reason why the School District violated the Free Exercise Clause.

Judge Christen dissented, saying in part:

My colleagues are correct that the competing values at issue in this case are cherished by our nation and enshrined in our Constitution. The plaintiffs will surely have their day in court for their claims of past harm. Once they do, the court will have to consider both the plaintiffs’ rights and the rights of those they would exclude. Notably, the majority offers no limiting principle to the permission it grants allowing one club to discriminate. In the meantime, we are not free to contort our standing jurisprudence in order to prematurely reach the merits and we ought not do so in a case of this magnitude before the record has been developed and tested. 

Next Faith On Trial: Science camp or LGBTQ indoctrination?

What happens when your 5^th grade daughter’s school takes her class to a 4-day “science camp” that turns out to be an LGBTQ retreat with leaders that refer to themselves as “they” and “them?” Joining Deacon Mike and Gina this Thursday will be Alexander Haberbush attorney and president of the Lex Rex Institute who has filed suit against the school on behalf of the parents. Faith On Trial airs every Thursday mornings at 9:30 CT on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM and 94.5 FM Des Moines; 88.5 FM Adel, and 90.9 FM Creston, 94.5 Des Moines, 95.7 Oskaloosa, or catch it streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com. where you can listen to programs you may have missed.

Meet the new white supremacists

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue 

Blacks need not fear right-wing white supremacists—there are too few of these crazies to matter—but they need to fear well-educated white liberals. They have become the real white supremacists. 

If we define white supremacists as white persons who believe in the inherent inferiority of blacks, members of the Klan come to mind. But white liberals should also come to mind. That is because they don't believe blacks have the ability to raise themselves up by themselves. 

White liberals have given up on equal opportunity. This explains why they are constantly dreaming up ways to mandate equality. In short, they have given up on blacks. 

On June 1, the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans issued its Interim Report. It is the most comprehensive summary of liberal white supremacy available. Here are some of their proposals. 

1) Black deadbeat dads will no longer be held accountable for their behavior. The panel recommends that the state "eliminate past-due child support owed to the government for non-custodial parents." What about collecting interest on child support that is past due? It's been eliminated. This is a big win for irresponsible black men and a big loss for black women. 

2) All blacks in California should be allowed to send their children to any college they choose free of charge. If more black males are being cited for disciplinary problems, that is going to end. Racial equity means "racially equitable disciplinary practices." This is a big win for black Hollywood actors and professional athletes—their kids can go to college free of charge—and a big loss for well-behaving black students. 

3) Putting more cops in high-crime neighborhoods is discriminatory. That is the obvious takeaway from the proposal which seeks to "eliminate the over-policing of predominantly Black communities." The big winners are the criminals and the big losers are the vast majority of law-abiding black Americans. 

4) Blacks are entitled to free health care, regardless of how much money they make. Moreover, it must be "cost-free high quality" care. The big winners are the hospitals which will be reimbursed by the government and the big losers are the taxpayers. 

5) Reparations must be offered in the form of cash payments to close the racial wealth gap. The big winners are blacks whose ancestors owned slaves and the big losers are blacks whose ancestors were enslaved, possibly by another black person. 

This program is a textbook example of the way well-educated white liberals think about blacks. The paternalism is racist in intent and effect, reflecting the kind of thinking that assumes blacks are inherently inferior and cannot succeed without the benign intervention of whitey. 

This is the happy face of white supremacy in 2022. Get used to it or, better yet, be prepared to fight it.

Hail Mary, Lock And Load…

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – Okay, by now everyone has heard about The Atlantic’s Daniel Panneton’s not-so ridiculous claim that “radical-traditional” Catholics — who I guess I would include myself in that — see the rosary as some type of secular weapon to fight the deadly beast.

Well, sorry to upset Mr. Panneton’s big discovery, but the simple fact is that it is not only a weapon, it is the singularly most powerful weapon in the Catholic arsenal against the forces of Hell. The problem with Mr. Panneton’s thesis is not that he sees the rosary as a weapon, which it is, but that he misinterprets what the Church means by that reference and all references to spiritual battle.

Here is how he started his column in mocking fashion:

“Just as the AR-15 rifle has become a sacred object for Christian nationalists in general, the rosary has acquired a militaristic meaning for radical-traditional (or ‘rad trad’) Catholics. On this extremist fringe, rosary beads have been woven into a conspiratorial politics and absolutist gun culture. These armed radical traditionalists have taken up a spiritual notion that the rosary can be a weapon in the fight against evil and turned it into something dangerously literal.”

Just parenthetically, notice his use of the term “radical-traditional Catholics,” which he mocks with the term “rad-trad” which he sprinkles throughout his over-the-top missive. It is a pejorative term used by modernist and liberals to the growing contingent of conservatives in our midst, many of whom are dedicated adherents of the Latin Mass.

Mr. Panneton’s bigoted, journalistic twaddle races around the political and theological landscape making one ridiculous claim after another by using dozens of non sequiturs, exaggerations, and distortions to make his point: that radical traditional Catholics not only dream of a spiritual war against the powers and principalities arrayed against our Heavenly Father, but pray for a physical war as well.

He misinterprets, deliberately perhaps, images of war used to illustrate the battles between good and evil as a call to physical violence, such as Psalm 144 which praises the Lord who “trains my hands for battle,” missing entirely the point that while much of biblical history involves the safeguarding of the Jewish people by military means, it is a metaphor for our spiritual battles against the ancient enemy. He posits, “These rad-trad rosary-as-weapon memes represent a social-media diffusion of such messaging, and they work to integrate ultraconservative Catholicism with other aspects of online far-right culture.”

He continually uses pejorative terms to describe these rad-trads — you know the ones, they cling to their bibles and guns — “Catholic cyber-militant,” “masculinist anxieties,” using “combat rosaries,” and “battle beads,” who glorify “a warrior mentality and notions of manliness and male strength” and have “anxieties about Catholic manhood,” all coupled with the concept of “righteous violence.” Apparently all done under the tutelage of the Blessed Virgin herself.

Just to show how dishonest this argument is, the “combat rosaries” mentioned were in reference to the rosaries given to American Catholic soldiers during World War I which were being displayed and reproductive souvenirs were being sold in a wartime museum. Of course, Mr. Panneton’s understanding is a bit different, “This conflation of the masculine and the military is rooted in wider anxieties about Catholic manhood.”

In that vein he writes, “The rosary-as-weapon also gives rad-trad Catholic men both a distinctive signifier within Christian nationalism and a sort of membership pass to the movement….Today, Catholics are a growing contingent of Christian nationalism.”

He also suggests that this “militia culture” and “masculinist anxieties” have become mainstream for the rad-trads where they have taken up residence. He writes, “Their social-media accounts commonly promote accelerationist and survivalist content, along with combat-medical and tactical training, as well as memes depicting balaclava-clad gunmen that draw on the ‘terrorwave’ or ‘warcore’ aesthetic that is popular in far-right circles.”

I think you get the picture here. He seems to take every crackpot notion ever expressed, as well as the distortions of legitimate teachings of the Church and he uses them to smear those Catholics who actually follow the true teachings of the Church. And in doing so he has tried to cast those conservative voices as part of a great conspiracy of radicals who not only oppose abortion and transgenderism, but who also approve of the use of violence against them and have insecurities with their own manhood.

I might suggest where Mr. Panneton got some of his ideas. Like many liberals he seems to be trapped in a continuing relationship with hate. He is the manager of the Online Hate Research and Education Project for the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre in Toronto, Canada.

I suppose that might be understood in the context of a mixed-up individual who is unable to see clearly into things he does not understand, nor wishes to, but the conduct of The Atlantic is more problematic. Its embrace of Mr. Panneton’s claims of violence is beyond the pale, a farce of journalistic malpractice.

The suggestion of violence is most concerning, and to its (dis)credit The Atlantic featured images of bullet holes around the article in its published version, suggesting, perhaps, that like much of the media it not only abhors conservative religious values and views those adherents as simply evil and deserving of the rewards of cancel culture: a quick dismissal to political and social limbo, a modern leprosy den where they can no longer infect the enlightened and true believers left behind.

This, of course, reminds me of the anti-Catholicism I saw growing up as a boy when John F. Kennedy was running for president in the late 1950s and early 1960s. People seemed to believe the strangest things about the Church, such as if Kennedy was elected, he would be controlled by the Pope and he would try to take over the U.S., canon law was confused with rule by cannons, which were found in the altar of every church just below the tabernacle that contained grenades. And, needless to say, everyone would be obliged to eat fish on Fridays.

That’s probably why one commentator suggested that Panneton’s misguided screed had “so much ignorance displayed in so few words.”
But beyond all that, the most troubling aspect of Panneton’s hit piece is perhaps his greatest omission: the figure of the Blessed Virgin and the rosary are not only a powerful weapon against the forces of evil, but they are a lifeline for millions of faithful around the world who are seeking help against the travails of our earthly existence.

Faithful around the world place themselves in their Blessed Mother’s arms each night, seeking refuge from sickness, poverty, homelessness, and despair. Each hour of the day millions of babies are placed in Mary’s care by loving mothers all over the world. Mary, for many, is the last hope and the rosary is the means by which millions throughout the ages have reached out to her.

Sure, the rosary is a powerful weapon against evil, but it is also a powerful comfort for those needing reassurance. It is the sine qua non of their faith, even of their existence.

Hail Mary, lock and load, or as I have taught my little Goddaughter: Hail Mary full of grace, punch the Devil in his face. Ahhh, what’s a Godfather for anyway?

• + + (You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Faith On Trial on IowaCatholicRadio.com.)

FACEBOOK AND THE FBI

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan that Facebook limited distribution of the Hunter Biden laptop story based on a general request from the FBI. “The FBI, I think, basically came to us - some folks on our team - and was like, 'Hey, just so you know, like, you should be on high alert… We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election,” Zuckerberg told Rogan. When asked if he had any regret about suppressing a story that was ultimately factual, Zuckerberg said: “Yeah, yeah, I mean, it sucks.”  READ

Amish Farmer Faces Fines, Prison Time for Refusing to Comply With USDA Regulations - The Stream

Amish Farmer Faces Fines, Prison Time for Refusing to Comply With USDA Regulations - The Stream: The Amish are often regarded as uncivilized people, but perhaps there’s something we can learn from them about community.

Religion Clause: California Must Allow Churches To Opt Out Of Abort...

In Foothill Church v. Watanabe, (ED CA, Aug. 25, 2022), a California federal district court held that the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) should have taken steps so that objecting churches could be exempt from the Department's requirement that health insurance policies cover abortion services. DMHC argued that only health care plans are subject to its regulation, so exemptions will be granted only to plans, not to employers. Subjecting plaintiffs' Free Exercise claim to strict scrutiny because the DMHC rule is subject to a system of individual exemptions and thus is not "generally applicable," the court said in part:

[T]he court assumes without deciding that the Director’s understanding of the scope of her regulatory authority, that she is limited to regulating health plans, is correct. Nonetheless, nothing in the statutory text explicitly precludes her from fielding requests for exemptions from religious claimants. Likewise, nothing appears to preclude the Director from directing the religious claimant’s plan to submit a revised evidence of coverage document comporting with the religious claimant’s belief to the DMHC for approval. The Director’s authority to give orders to a plan does not foreclose the authority to consider requests for those orders from others. In the end, the Director is still regulating the plan.

... The Director’s denial of the Churches’ request for exceptions to accommodate their religious beliefs, based solely on the fact that those requests did not originate with a plan, was not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest.

ADF issued a press release announcing the decision.

This week on Faith On Trial

This week Steve Havemann, Director of Des Moines St. Vincent DePaul, joins us to discuss some me community programs it hosts … its more than just a thrift shop, tune in and find out why.

https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on IowaCatholicRadio.com.

George Soros' legacy of bigotry

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue  

Few persons have done more damage to free societies than George Soros, the Hungarian-born billionaire. Yet in left-wing circles, the 92-year-old is regarded as a hero. That may have something to do with the fact that his Open Society Foundations have been greasing them for decades. Less well known is his record of bigotry. 

Soros is known as a "self-hating Jew." As a young man in Hungary he became a Nazi collaborator. In a "60 Minutes" interview, Soros admitted that he helped confiscate property from Jews. He told Steve Kroft that he never regretted doing so. When asked if this was difficult, Soros said, "Not, not at all. Not at all." Stunned, Kroft said, "No feeling of guilt?" "No" came the reply. 

The hatred that Soros has for Israel is indisputable. He funds groups such as Bend the Arc, a far-left Jewish group that supports anti-Semites such as Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib. He also throws considerable money at the BDS movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions) which is trying to bankrupt Israel. By funding Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch, he is instrumental in branding Israel an "apartheid" racist state, the two bodies promoting this cause. 

Soros has a long history of supporting anti-Catholicism. Catholics for Choice is the oldest anti-Catholic "Catholic" entity in the modern era. Though no organization has given it more money than the Ford Foundation, Soros' foundations have not been miserly. This letterhead has a history of lying about the Church's official teaching on abortion. 

In January, Catholics for Choice vandalized the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. At a prayer vigil that was held there before the March for Life, the Soros-funded entity desecrated the Basilica by using light-projecting technology to post anti-Catholic messages on it. 

When President Obama was in power, the atheist billionaire threw his weight behind Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United, two Catholic front-groups founded to manipulate Catholic voters. 

Both of the two anti-Catholic "Catholic" groups were founded in 2005, following the defeat of John Kerry the year before. Kerry lost to President George W. Bush in part because of the "values voters," mostly Catholic and evangelical Protestants who stood for traditional values. Soros wasn't happy with these traditionalists, or the outcome, and sought a corrective by establishing phony Catholic groups to alter the political landscape. 

It was a stealth campaign to end all stealth campaigns. There was nothing Catholic about either of these entities, but they gave the impression to the public that one could be a Catholic in good standing and oppose the Church's teachings on marriage, the family and sexuality. In 2016, they came crashing down. 

That is when the Wikileaks revelations became public. Leaked emails showed that John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, sought to create mutiny in the Catholic Church by funding Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United. One of Podesta's associates, Sandy Newman, said there was a need for a "Catholic spring," and that the goal should be to "plant the seeds of the revolution." Made possible, of course, with Soros' money. 

There is one other aspect to this story worth mentioning. After Obama was elected in 2008, the IRS contacted me to say that the Catholic League was under investigation for violating IRS strictures for non-profit organizations. After the probe was finally finished, we received a slap on the wrist. I promised the IRS official I would not stop hammering pro-abortion anti-Catholic politicians, and that he should inform his superiors of my pledge. 

More important, I told him that I knew who was behind the attempt to destroy me. Just before the 2008 election, a CNN staffer sent me copies of a long document detailing news releases I had sent that allegedly violated IRS rules. She did this because the person who sent it to her tried to get me kicked off TV; he sent the document to validate his request. 

When the IRS complaint was sent to me before Thanksgiving in 2008, I quickly concluded that it looked amazingly like the document forwarded to me by the CNN employee. It was sent to her by Catholics United. 

In other words, Soros was behind the attempt to silence the Catholic League. He lost. It's too bad he hasn't lost more often—his legacy of hate has done much harm.

Former football coach sues for wrongful termination over ‘All Lives Matter' sign

By Kate Anderson | Campus Reform

On August 11, a motion by Illinois State University’s (ISU) athletic administrators to dismiss former offensive coordinator Kurt Beathard's lawsuit against ISU for wrongful termination was denied. 

Beathard’s lawsuit alleges he was fired by Heach Coach Brock Spack over a sign Beathard put on his office door with the phrase “All Lives Matter To Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.” The sign replaced a Black Lives Matter poster Beathard found had been placed on his door.

The defendants include former Athletic Director Larry Lyons, Head Coach Spack, and current Athletic Director Kyle Brennan. 

They requested a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, alleging that the “[p]laintiff was acting in his official job duties in placing the replacement poster on his door" and so "is not entitled to First Amendment protections,” according to the lawsuit.  

In August 2020, the ISU Athletics department handed out signs with BLM messages, and one ended up on Beathard’s door. In response, Beathard took the sign down and replaced it with the aforementioned sign.

On August 29, 2020, Spack asked Beathard to take his sign down, after which, Beathard did remove it. However, on September 2, 2020, Beathard was terminated from his position as offensive coordinator by Spack because he “didn’t like the direction of the offense.” 

Former Postal Carrier Who Lost Job After USPS Refused Religious Accommodation Appeals to U.S. Supreme Court

Washington, D.C.—Today, First Liberty Institute, Baker Botts LLP, the Church State Council, and the Independence Law Center filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of former mailman Gerald Groff.  The petition asks the Court to reverse a Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision finding that the United States Postal Service (“USPS”) is not required to provide religious accommodation allowing Groff to observe the Sunday Sabbath. 

You can read the petition here. 

“No American should be forced to choose between their religion and their job,” said Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel at First Liberty. “We are asking the Court to overturn a poorly-reasoned case from the 1970s that tips the balance in favor of corporations and the government over the religious rights of employees.”  

“Observing the Sabbath day is critical to many faiths—a day ordained by God.  No one should be forced to violate the Sabbath to hold a job,” added Randall Wenger of the Independence Law Center. 

Aaron Streett of Baker Botts said, “We are simply asking the Supreme Court to apply the law as written and require employers to grant meaningful religious accommodations to people of faith.” 

Alan Reinach of the Church State Council said of the appeal, “The Supreme Court needs to fix its misguided interpretation of the law that permits government and corporate employers alike to discriminate against those seeking religious accommodation for trivial reasons.” 

Gerald Groff began his career with the USPS in 2012 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, as a mail carrier. When the post office started delivering packages on Sundays for Amazon, Groff asked for a religious accommodation to observe Sunday Sabbath. The postmaster initially granted his request, allowing him to work additional shifts on other days of the week instead, but later the USPS offered only proposals that would still require Groff to work on Sundays and thereby violate his conscience.  Forced to choose between his faith and his career, Groff resigned and sued the USPS.  The district court sided with the USPS, concluding that accommodating Groff would pose an undue hardship on USPS. The Third Circuit upheld that decision. 

Attorneys for Groff, argue that, as a federal employee with USPS, Groff was protected by Title VII from discrimination based on his religious beliefs and practices.  They suggest the Supreme Court re-examine TWA v. Hardison, the key case that determined the lower courts’ decisions.

About First Liberty Institute

First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans. 

Fire chaplain sues city of Austin for firing him for sharing religious view on personal blog

AUSTIN, Texas – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed suit Thursday in federal court on behalf of Dr. Andrew Fox against the city for firing the former volunteer chaplain of the Austin Fire Department for sharing his religious view on his personal blog, in violation of his First Amendment rights.

Dr. Fox is an ordained minister who started Austin’s fire chaplaincy program and served as the city’s lead chaplain—a volunteer position—for eight years. After sharing on his personal blog his religious and commonsense view that men and women are biologically different and men should not compete on women’s sports teams, city officials demanded that Dr. Fox recant and apologize for expressing that view, and then proceeded to fire him.

“Everyone should be able to speak freely without fear of the government coming after you just because you expressed a view they disagree with,” said ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert. “Dr. Fox served Austin’s fire department—without pay—for eight years with excellence and integrity, treating everyone equally, including those in the LGBT community. But none of that mattered to city officials when he shared one opinion on his personal blog that they didn’t like. No matter your personal view on whether men should be allowed to compete on women’s sports teams, it should deeply concern every American that the government can fire someone for expressing it.”

As the complaint in Fox v. City of Austin filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, states: “For eight years, Dr. Fox walked side-by-side with first responders and their families, providing a listening ear and source of prayer as they encountered deaths, suicides, and other tragedies. For eight years, Dr. Fox provided all firefighters with consistent care and equal treatment no matter who they were, including those in the LGBT community. For eight years, Dr. Fox treated everyone he encountered with dignity and respect as he ministered to others in accordance with his religious beliefs and fire department policy. And he did this all voluntarily—without pay—out of love for the men and women who sacrificially serve their community.”

The complaint continues: “No one ever accused him of discriminating against anyone or treating anyone improperly. To the contrary, the City lauded him for his integrity and service. Dr. Fox consistently shared his religious and philosophical reflections online for years without any problem. It was only when Dr. Fox expressed a particular set of views that officials disliked that the City extinguished Dr. Fox’s career.… Americans cannot learn to respect each other’s differences when they face career-crushing consequences anytime their personal beliefs, expressed openly on their own time outside of work, contradict the ideological commitments of some HR officials.”

Dr. Fox, who is a resident of Williamson County, Texas, served in a voluntary capacity as lead chaplain of the Austin Fire Department for eight years until his dismissal in December 2021.

ADF attorneys successfully litigated and won a religious liberty case on behalf of Atlanta’s fire chief in Cochran v. City of Atlanta.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

Assisted suicide up North . . . religion and transgenderism

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) -- Our friend Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Canadian-based Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has reported some alarming results from his country’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) law.

In its newly released report for 2021, Health Canada reported more than 10,064 medically assisted deaths up from 7,603 the year before. The 2021 figure represented 3.3 percent of all deaths that year. Of those “at least 1,740 people died by euthanasia for loneliness and isolation,” it reported.

“Many people with significant medical conditions also live with loneliness and isolation. Social isolation and loneliness require a compassionate caring community, not death by lethal injection,” Schadenberg said.

One statistic he noted in the report was that only four percent of written requests for MAiD were denied as ineligible, a surprise since the same figures for the Netherlands and Belgium, countries well-known for extremely liberal euthanasia, had a much higher rejection rate.

Citing inadequate pain control as well as concern about the ability to continue controlling pain were raised for 57.6 percent of the requests for euthanasia, and yet the report states that 80.7 percent of the people who requested euthanasia were “receiving palliative care.” Being enrolled in palliative care and receiving palliative care are different, he said, urging officials that more study is needed to be done to determine how many people who died by euthanasia were actually receiving some kind of palliative care.

The data from the report is gathered from the reports submitted by the medical or nurse practitioners who carried out the euthanasia death. There is no requirement that a third party or neutral person submit the report to ensure their accuracy, Schadenberg said.

“When all data sources are considered, the total number of euthanasia (MAiD) reported assisted deaths in Canada from [date of] legalization to December 31, 2021 is 31,664,” Schadenberg reported. Additionally, he said, “The report indicated that due to the passing of Bill C-7 in March 2021, 2.2 percent of the assisted deaths were people whose natural death was not reasonably foreseeable.”

Schadenberg noted that was the first Health Canada MAiD report since the Canadian government adopted Bill C-7 which made several changes in the MAiD law which expanded eligibility for euthanasia, such as:

It removed the requirement that a person’s natural death be reasonably foreseeable. Therefore, people who are not terminally ill could now die by euthanasia.

It permitted a doctor or nurse practitioner to lethally inject a person who is incapable of consenting, if that person had previously been approved for assisted death. Thus, incompetent people could now be euthanatized.

It also waived the ten-day waiting period if a person’s natural death is deemed to be reasonably foreseeable. Thus, a person could request euthanasia and be euthanized the same day.

The bill also approved euthanasia for patients requesting same when their only complaint was mental illness, but delayed its implementation for two years to give health officials the ability for the development of procedural guidelines for “mental illness alone” cases.

The report also noted the main reasons for requesting euthanasia were: “the loss of ability to engage in meaningful activities (86.3 percent), loss of ability to perform activities of daily living (83.4 percent), and inadequate control of pain or concerns about controlling pain (57.6 percent).”

He further commented, “Sadly, Canada has quickly become the most permissive euthanasia regime in the world. Further to that, a Canadian government committee is examining expanding the law to include euthanasia for children, ‘mature minors,’ and euthanasia for incompetent people. Recent stories indicate that Canadians are now dying by euthanasia for reasons of poverty, disability, and mental illness.”

Religious Values And Transgenderism

As we might expect, a Pew Research Center survey has concluded that religious views are predictive of public views on what should be public policy involving transgenderism, including in the area of women’s athletics. Not surprisingly the views of those professing religious beliefs are substantially different than those with no religious beliefs, the so-called “nones.”

According to the July survey, 87 percent of those identifying as white evangelicals, 75 percent of Protestants overall — including 70 percent of black Protestants — and 62 percent of Catholics believe that a person’s sexual identity is set at birth. All of those figures are up from similar surveys conducted in 2017 and 2021.

On the other hand, respectively, only 24 percent, 32 percent, and 49 percent of atheists, agnostics, and no religion feel the same way with 78 percent, 67 percent, and 51 percent believing that sex is not determined by birth.

Interestingly, a full 32 percent of Catholics but only 13 percent of white evangelicals believe sex is not determined at birth. The overall for all U.S. adults the breakdown is that 60 percent believe sex is determined at birth, up from 54 percent in 2017 while now 38 percent disagree, down from 44 percent in 2017.

These percentages were somewhat reflective of the attitudes concerning whether or not society has become too accepting of transgender persons. Controversies swirl throughout the public on these issues, especially concerning trans athletes competing in their non-biological sex categories, thus, according to many, giving an unfair advantage to biological men who identify as girls or women over their female competitors; and most heatedly involving school curriculum, especially for younger students in the earlier grades.

Have we become too accepting? Yes said 32 percent in 2017, not too far 39 percent, and just about right 27 percent. There have been changes for 2022, respectively 38 percent, 36 percent, and 23 percent, perhaps as a result of the increased publicity of the issues connected with transgenderism.

Again white evangelicals stood out as the most substantial of the “gone too far” group, moving from 61 percent in 2017 to 68 percent now. Catholics went from 27 percent to 37 percent and Protestants went from 44 percent in 2017 to 50 percent today.

The unchurched, atheists, and agnostics were most accepting of the status of transgenderism with the overwhelming majority saying that society has not gone far enough in accepting them; atheists at 71 percent and agnostics at 65 percent.

Religious beliefs have played an influential but not overwhelming part in the public’s response to transgenderism. Overall, 41 percent said their religious beliefs have, at least somewhat, affected their view of questions over transgenderism. Fifty percent claim their religion has not affected their belief at all; for 58 percent of Protestants their religious beliefs were a factor, which rose to 70 percent for white evangelicals and to 45 percent for black Protestants.

Forty-two percent of Catholics cited their religious views as a factor in their beliefs, while 45 percent claimed their religious beliefs had no influence on their views.

In each category, the survey measured the percentage of respondents that said the government should add additional gender identification options other than “male” or “female.” Overall of those expressing a religious sentiment only 38 percent said yes as did 38 percent of Protestants, 17 percent of white evangelicals, 43 percent of black Protestants, and 35 percent of Catholics. Atheists’ approval rating was 70 percent, agnostics 60 percent, and “nothing in particular” was 45 percent.

Not surprisingly, the survey did find a correlation between transgender acceptances between the political parties with Republicans reacting more negatively than the Democrats who have been staunch supporters of transsexual rights.

So much for following the science.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every Thursday at 9:30 CT on Faith On Trial at IowaCatholicRadio.com.)

Catholic League Forum: Attacks on Catholics from Media & Government

Why the Rise in Attacks on Pregnancy Resource Centers?

Legalizing infanticide

California is voting as soon as TODAY on a bill that could legalize infanticide up to 28 days AFTER a helpless baby is born. This is evil.

The abortion lobby worships at the altar of abortion. It's trying to make Roe v. Wade PERMANENT in every state and through Congress, even though the Supreme Court overruled Roe. Now it's legalizing infanticide.

This week on Faith On Trial

Iowa Catholic Radio – Faith On Trial Episode 327 – Aug. 18, 2022

Crisis pregnancy centers – InnerVisions Des Moines and West Des Moines

https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on IowaCatholicRadio.com.

Collapse of a common culture

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue

When I was growing up on Long Island, we had ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and three local channels on TV. I later learned that having seven channels was actually a high number compared to other parts of the country. This meant that most Americans pretty much watched the same news shows, and while differing views were commonplace, we could all agree on what the news of the day was.

Today we still get news from the big three—ABC, CBS, and NBC—but they carry far less weight than in the past, with far fewer people watching them. Many prefer to get their news from cable TV, but the people who watch Fox News and Newsmax, which appeal to conservatives, seldom watch CNN or MSNBC, which appeal to those on the left, and vice versa.

The big difference is not the slant—it is the news stories that are not covered. For example, CNN and MSNBC will not cover news stories that upset its liberal viewers, the result being that their audience is often in the dark about major events (e.g, the bogus Russian collusion story, Hunter Biden, etc.).

It used to be that families disagreed over the news of the day. Now one side doesn't know what the other side is talking about.

It's not just news stories that have changed. The proliferation of TV channels and social media platforms means we don't watch the same entertainment shows. As a youngster, I remember that nearly everyone watched the Jackie Gleason show, "The Honeymooners," as well as the Ed Sullivan show, the number-one entertainment program. Now some watch rappers while others watch the rodeo.  

In the late 19th and early 20th century, families were big, houses were small and cars were few, if non-existent. Now families are small, houses are big and cars are everywhere.

Think of the row houses in big cities at that time. There was no TV and no air conditioning. So where did everyone go during the summer? They hung out outside on the stoop, the sidewalk and the street. All the neighbors knew each other and the kids played ball and other games while adults partied and had a few cold ones. They actually talked to each other. There was no need to schedule a "block party"—they happened spontaneously every weekend.

Now family members have several rooms to isolate from each other. They don't have to be outside in the heat; they can stay inside in the AC and watch TV, play video games and engage in social media, all by themselves. They don't have to talk to anyone.

How sad. What we are witnessing is the collapse of a common culture. People get their news and entertainment from a multiplicity of sources, and are content to absorb themselves on their phones. They must have their phones—all the time.

There are other problems. Email is a fast and effective way to communicate with others about everyday matters, but it is a lousy way to communicate when it comes to serious issues. It is easy to misinterpret someone when the issue is a hot one.

When we are with someone, we can pick up on facial expressions, body language and the like, and we have an opportunity to get instant clarification. This is not true of email correspondence, which is why we often come away hurt. It is easy to be mistaken. Did he really mean what I think he meant? Did she not get back to me because she's angry at me? It is so easy to mistake the sentiments of someone when we are not with them.

In other words, there is no substitute for face-to-face interaction. That takes time and effort, but it's worth it, especially when the issue is sensitive.

Gen Z (1997-2012) is the youngest segment of our adult population. The "zoomers" are known for many things, but none is more disturbing than the high degree of loneliness that so many are experiencing. It is a major problem, and it affects girls worse than boys. Indeed, social media is a big generator of loneliness among young girls.

When I was a kid, if I saw someone walking down the block with ear phones talking to himself, I would be tempted to call the asylum. Now I look away. Similarly, when I was young and took a train or bus, people spoke to those near to them. Now they speak to someone no one can see on their phone. And because we are a captive audience, we all have to hear the conversation of these narcissists.

No wonder we are a divided people. We don't have anywhere near the same common experiences. We have plenty of autonomy, but the underside is we lack a sense of community. Unfortunately, when that goes, much is lost. 

Religion Clause: Court Reverses Sanctions Imposed On Church For Vio...

In People v. Calvary Chapel, San Jose, (CA App., Aug. 15, 2022), a California state appellate court annulled contempt orders imposed by trial courts and reversed trial court imposition of monetary sanctions which resulted from a church's refusal to comply with state COVID public health orders. The order restricted the holding and conduct of public gatherings. The court said in part:

[W]e conclude that the temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions are facially unconstitutional pursuant to the recent guidance of the United States Supreme Court regarding the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion in the context of public health orders that impact religious practice (see, e.g., Tandon v. Newsom (2021) ....) As the underlying orders which Calvary Chapel violated are void and unenforceable, we will annul the orders of contempt in their entirety and reverse the orders to pay monetary sanctions.

Advocates for Faith & Freedom issued a press release announcing the decision and reporting that Santa Clara County is still attempting to enforce $2.8 million in fines imposed for violation of county health orders.

Thursday on Faith On Trial: the crisis pregnancy center

This week Brian Gonzalez, director of development for InnerVisions Health Care will be our guest to discuss the workings of a crisis pregnancy center. The program airs at 9:30 a.m. CT on IowaCatholicRadio.com.

Good-bye, Santa

By Deacon Mike Manno

I was a lucky kid. I grew up in a middle class suburb of Des Moines with two great parents; one of whom was a stay-at-home mother. I was sent to St. Theresa Catholic School and Church where I learned the traditional values of the day. It was the ’50s and life was unicorns and cotton candy.

Later, of course, we began to realize that life was not all sugar plums and fairies, that it had some rough edges that we all must deal with, but on the whole life was still good. We lived in the greatest country in the world and we were free to pursue our own dreams and goals and could take on life on our own terms.

For many in my circle of tiny kid friends our first communal disappointment came when we found out that Santa Claus was not real – okay, there was a saint but that’s not who we are really talking about. For some that was a shattering experience; some cried, most were troubled, and some even saw through the charade and only played along to appease their parents. But it was the beginning of learning that things were not always as we had thought or been told or expected.

There were other shocking revelations that came later, all part of growing and maturing, but the early trauma of losing Santa was the opening round in accepting reality over fairy dust.

That feeling came to mind the other day while I was getting ready for a meeting at church as the news broke that the FBI had raided Mar-a-Lago, the home of former President Donald Trump. Back in the day our friends started whispering about the reality of Santa with stories from their older siblings, debunking the myth until we were all forced to admit the truth. The myth had faded.

For me, experiencing the FBI raid means that the time has come to admit the new and horrible truth: Our nation was slowly being sold out and the ideal nation we had believed was now turning into a façade.

Our Santa Claus existence was over and this might not be the great nation in which we had believed. And it became clear that our partisan divide has become so deep and toxic that one side had become obsessed with tearing it down and starting down another path. A horrible path, devoid of any trace of the American idealism that we had come to know.

Our civic engagement was changing, too. One side, propelled by an ideology opposed to our history and culture emerged, wrapping itself in the popular slogans of our history as it denied the same. No longer simply disagreeing with the other side was possible for it was not to be trusted as it was populated by people it despised (basket of deplorables, remember). So much so that the disagreement has turned into hate and, unfortunately, some have tried to use party loyalty to drag their uninformed followers along with them. And along with the hate they have come to the conclusion that those who disagree should be considered enemies who must be completely silenced or eliminated.

The pattern has been building over time, gradually much like our knowledge of the non-reality of Santa Claus, and like that childhood memory it had been resisted at first before finally bowing to reality. And now it is clear for all to see — all, that is, for all who wish to see.

We are now entering into a police state where the polestar is retaining power and control by any means necessary. What we saw happen to the former president can now happen to anyone who runs afoul of our civic overlords who are willing to use the federal police agencies to enforce conformity regardless of what we have considered the “rule of law.”

You can see how easily the lingering “deep state” was used to try to destroy Donald Trump — not just his policies, but him personally. Not only does it try to destroy its enemies, it supports and covers for its friends; think Hillary Clinton, and Hunter Biden, both, as well as several other notable progressive operatives, were protected. Yet Mr. Trump and those associated with him have been attacked, arrested, charged with flimsy crimes in order to get at the man; think Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and perhaps the most egregious of all, Gen. Michael Flynn.

While Mr. Trump’s aides and attorneys had their homes raided, much like Mar-a-Lago, and sometimes hauled away in shackles, the others were given passes. Why? It is because the powers to-be see Mr. Trump and his policies as a challenge to the power grab being foisted on us by the government. They simply stand to lose control.

And if the conduct of the FBI isn’t bad enough, the party in power has just authorized the hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents, too large a number to investigate only the wealthy. At whom do you suppose they will be aimed? And they will be sent to work with the agencies’ arsenal: 3,283 pistols, 621 shotguns, 539 rifles, 15 fully automatic rifles, four revolvers, and over five million rounds of ammunition. Now what do you think the newly constituted IRS – which by numbers will more than rival all other law enforcement agencies – needs with that kind of firepower?

Perhaps some of that will be used to confront wayward parents, the newly defined domestic terrorists, who insist on taking part in their kids’ education with ideas that challenge the new political orthodoxy. You don’t think so? Think again, it is happening with FBI intimidation right now. Don’t dare demand that your 14-year-old daughter not be allowed to shower with the boys after gym class, the Biden administration is already drafting rules to require that.

Our military has already been infected with this ideology – Critical Race Theory, transgenderism, and agnosticism – while our leading celebrities and athletes parrot the same mantra to their adoring masses of intellectually void puppets. Now we are watching the fulfillment of years of preparation by the new anti-American myth busters who have managed to capture the levers of government and turned it against us.

Now instead of an iconic myth we see our republic being torched from within. We have a new Amerika where our Founding Fathers’ words have been reduced to empty platitudes and where the ideals of America, faith, freedom, and family are being thrown from their moorings.

But it is still not too late to stop this total corruption of our land. It will take a lot of prayer and patience as well as political action and voting. Otherwise we might be witnessing our freedoms evaporating, a myth that once rivaled Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

God save the United States of America!

Title VII violation costs hospital $10.3 million -- this week on Faith On Trial with Liberty Counsel

Iowa Catholic Radio – Faith On Trial

Episode 326 – Aug. 11, 2022

COVID mandate religious exemptions denial costs $10.3 million  

https://iowacatholicradio.com/faith-on-trial/

Faith On Trial airs every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on IowaCatholicRadio.com.

Biden privileges gays over kids

By Catholic League president Bill Donohue 

On August 4, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared monkeypox a national public health emergency. This decision was not based on medical conditions; rather, it was purely political. 

On August 10, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported there were 9,492 cases of monkeypox in the United States. On August 6, a news story on CDC data reported that "fewer than 1 in 10 (8%) needed hospitalization due to monkeypox." That means there were 759 hospitalizations. 

A study published July 21 by the New England Journal of Medicine found that 98 percent of those infected with monkeypox were homosexual or bisexual men and that 75 percent where white. 

Now contrast these numbers with what we know about respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), an infection that primarily affects young children during the fall and winter; there has been an uptick this summer. 

"Each year in the United States," the CDC reports, "RSV leads to an average approximately 58,000 hospitalizations with 100-500 deaths among children younger than 5 years old and 177,000 hospitalizations with 14,000 deaths among adults aged 65 years or older." 

No one has died of monkeypox in the United States. 

Why has the Biden administration declared a national public health emergency for monkeypox, when only 759 have been hospitalized, while failing to do the same for RSV when 58,000 children are hospitalized each year for the virus? 

In the New England Journal of Medicine study of men with monkeypox, it found that "the median number of sex partners in the previous 3 months was 5 partners" and that 20 percent had attended large gatherings, such as Pride events. The researchers also learned that 32 percent "were known to have visited sex-on-site venues within the previous month," and that 20 percent had engaged in "chemsex," meaning "sex associated with drugs such as mephedrone and crystal methamphetamine in the same period." 

Monkeypox is preventable—all it takes is for homosexual men to act responsibly and slam on the brakes, but for some unexplained reason,  many refuse to do so. 

Biden is privileging monkeypox because it is a mostly white gay man's disease. In other words, those who won't alter their behavior get the benefits of an emergency declaration, but innocent children suffering from RSV do not. It's a national disgrace. Whatever happened to health equity?

Denial of religious exemption costs hospital $10.3 million

This week on Faith On Trial Liberty Counsel’s Harry Mehat, sitting in for Matt Staver, brings us up to day on how the denial of a religious exception for the COVID vaccine costs a hospital a $10.3 million settlement!

Join Deacon Mike and Gina as they discuss with one of the lawyers leading the charge. All this at 9:30 Thursday on Iowa Catholic Radio.

Statement by the Heritage Foundation on the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago

WASHINGTON—Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts released the following statement Monday after reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) raided the residences of former President Donald Trump:   

“The raid on Mar-a-Lago represents yet another example of the federal government weaponizing law enforcement to punish political enemies, silence critics, and send a message to those whom it views as enemies. The Biden administration and the D.C. swamp are making it very clear that they will use all the power of the state to intimidate anyone who stands in their way. 

“This is an extension of the left’s relentless campaign to drive a wedge between us—those who believe it’s okay to weaponize the state against its citizens, and those of us—the forgotten Americans—who are tired of being treated as second-class citizens. At a time when faith in American institutions is at an all-time low, Biden and his regime only continue to widen the gap, with no hope of return. The flawed ‘leadership’ of Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi disregards the American people and treat us as pawns in their political games. They will be held accountable.    

“The timing is suspect at best given the upcoming elections and the Senate’s passage of a bill that would authorize the hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents who will be unleashed to target working and middle-class Americans in order to fund the left’s radical agenda.   

“If they think they can treat a former president this way, imagine what they think they can do to the average American. Such actions could only be justified based on overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing. The FBI needs to immediately explain its reckless actions and Biden needs to answer the question of whether he ordered this raid.   

“Enough with the witch hunts. Joe Biden needs to start governing on behalf of the American people, not in the interests of his radical base.” 

Soros linked to violent crime spike

Leftist prosecutors backed by billionaire foreign investor George Soros are bringing about a spike in violent crime throughout the U.S., according to victims and their families. “The latest voice in this chorus is Terri O’Connor, whose Philadelphia police officer husband was shot to death in 2020 while serving a search warrant,” the Washington Examiner reported. “James O’Connor would still be alive if not for the policies of District Attorney Larry Krasner, who allows criminals back on the street without jail time," said the widow.

Read the full article: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/victims-blame-soros-backed-prosecutors-deadliest-crimes

Visa halts business with porn sites

One week after a federal judge ruled that Visa Inc. allegedly helped monetize child pornography through adult websites, the payment processing giant on Thursday said it would suspend its business dealings with a leading pornography company. U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney of the Central District of California said last week that Visa “knew” they had been funding child pornography.

Biden presses court to let him coerce doctors

The Biden administration is pressing the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to allow it to force doctors to perform abortions and “gender transition” surgeries against their conscientious objections. The court on Thursday heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by nearly 20,000 religious physicians challenging Biden’s new rule to that effect. Luke Goodrich, an attorney with the firm representing the doctors, says the judges seemed receptive to their arguments.  

Read more: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/appeals-court-weighs-hhs-can-force-doctors-transgender-surgeries

Election folderol

By Deacon Mike Manno

(The Wanderer) – So many things these days seem to revolve around politics. Now that’s not bad in and of itself for after all we live in a society that makes the claim of being a democracy (actually, it’s a republic, but that’s not my point today).

Our problem is not with politics, but with the extreme partisanship that is being displayed today. I understand that none of this is governed by the Marquess of Queensberry, but in the political sport of today, hitting below the belt, eye gouging, and all the rest all seem to be — well not illegal, as such, but not exactly wrong either.

One way the game is played is by continually changing the rules of the game to serve someone’s advantage. We’ve seen that happen in the last presidential election. Claiming emergency powers due to the pandemic, numerous states and localities adopted special rules that nullified the legislative procedures that were adopted to govern election conduct. Most of which were enacted in blue states and counties and seemed designed to increase the vote totals for one side.

The Republicans cried “foul” while the Democrats struck up “Hail to the (new) Chief.”

In the wake of the 2020 election, states that tried to amend their election laws, to correct perceived irregularities were called racist, homophobic, Nazi, and a few other things that were not as nice.

But we may have found a corrective, a potential Supreme Court decision that could very well put an end to the idea that election rules can be changed or bent under the pretext of an emergency.

It comes to us in the form of a dispute over how to draw congressional lines in North Carolina after the recent census. The legislature did so, as expected. However the North Carolina Democrats, and some independent groups, challenged the new electoral map and filed suit to stop it from taking effect. After a legal battle that went up to the State Supreme Court, it found that the legislature’s map did not provide for a “fair” or “free” election and ordered the lower court to develop a new map.

The new map, approved by the court with the help of several election experts, and input from other favored groups, was adopted. The Republicans went to the U.S. Supreme Court to block the use of the new map in the 2022 election, but the court refused to hear the case, thus the other map will be used in this year’s congressional election.

But the Republicans didn’t give up. Accepting the temporary defeat, they pressed their arguments and the court — just a few weeks ago — agreed to hear the matter during its next term.
So big deal. Why do we care?

Simple. We care because the question the Supremes will grapple with is whether a state court can overturn the act of its legislature proscribing matters pertaining to the election of the state’s congressional delegation. And here is the key constitutional provision upon which the issue will turn, Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution:

“The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof: but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the place of choosing Senators.”

(Senators at the time were to be chosen by the legislature.)

The argument that the Republicans are making is that the Constitution provides that state legislatures — not judges — “bear primary responsibility for setting election rules.” Thus the “judge-made map” should be thrown out and the legislature’s map reinstated.

That concept, the “independent state legislature” theory, which claims that only the legislature has the power to regulate elections, has, in the past, been embraced by several of the current justices, including Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh.

Of course that position is untenable for the other side. One of the State Supreme Court justices, Robin Hudson, wrote:

“Today, we answer this question: Does our state constitution recognize that the people of this state have the power to choose those who govern us, by giving each of us an equally powerful voice through our vote? Or does our constitution give to members of the General Assembly, as they argue here, unlimited power to draw electoral maps that keep themselves and our members of Congress in office as long as they want, regardless of the will of the people, by making some votes more powerful than others?”

And an opinion article in The Washington Post said, “The theory would disable state courts from protecting voting rights in federal elections by eliminating state constitutional protections in those elections.” And the Brennan Center for Justice claimed that the Republican interpretation of the legislature’s powers “could make it easier for state legislatures to suppress the vote, draw unfair election districts, enable partisan interference in ballot counting.” Of course the “how” was never explained.

And the Democrats’ bubbly and ever-present doorknob, Cong. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), was quick to call this “a judicial coup in progress.”

So now we know where the parties — and their followers – stand, what does this mean? The argument here is over the constitutional provision of choosing members of Congress, but it is broader than that. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, applies the same standard for the selection of presidential electors: “Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress.”

Since November of 2020 conservatives and Republicans have complained about voting irregularities in the presidential election. There are still Trump voters who will never believe that their candidate lost in an honest election. The massive fraud claimed was hard to analyze, or even detect. But as time has passed most of those investigating the fraud claims have targeted changes made in the voting rules by state actors claiming that the changes were necessary due to the pandemic.

And, of course, it is easy to connect the dots when those changes are taken into account. Changes such as extending the hours, and sometimes days, to return ballots, applications for and absentee ballots being mailed automatically without any request, “drop boxes” that were unattended and placed unmonitored in out of the way places where voters could drop completed ballots, and scores of other changes that could easily affect the outcome of a close election.

Unfortunately in most of the cases lawsuits were dismissed as not presenting a ripe question, and afterward they were dismissed as coming late and involving an open legal question that was not yet ready for resolution in the aftermath of an election.

If the position of the North Carolina legislature is upheld by the Supreme Court we may be in a position to eliminate all that folderol and protect the constitutional legitimacy of election laws enacted by the duly constituted bodies authorized to do so. Otherwise we may be required to relive the sins of the past, and again without any remedy.

The case, if you want to follow it, is Moore v. Harper (docket 21-1271) and is scheduled for an October argument before the U.S. Supreme Court.

(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him every Thursday morning at 9:30 CT on Faith On Trial on IowaCatholicRadio.com.)