Pro-Virus

27 November 2020

 

Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Supreme Court Backs Virus in "Religious Freedom" Ruling

 

The new conservative majority on the US Supreme Court proved that it is an ally of the virus that is causing the current pandemic. In a 5-4 decision, it struck down New York State's size limits imposed on religious meetings. Claiming that this was a matter of "religious freedom," the court decided that any number of individuals can congregate in close quarters, indoors, without masks if their purpose in doing so is religious. The decision will result in many believers meeting their maker sooner rather than later.

In this particular instance, the State of New York has created color-coded various zones depending on the rate of infection that limits certain activities. What is allowed in a yellow zone is greater than what is allowed in an orange zone which in turn allows more than a red zone. In a red zone, religious meetings are capped at 25% capacity or 10 individuals, whichever is fewer. Various religious sects objected to this because other businesses (yes, religion is a business) did not have such restrictions. Justice Gorsuch cited liquor stores and bike shops. One cannot recall visiting one of New York City's mom and pop liquor stores (chains are illegal) in recent years that had more than 5 or 6 people present including staff.

Justice Gorsuch further lied, "It is time -- past time -- to make plain that, while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops but shutter churches, synagogues, and mosques." The order did not shutter any religious franchise.

In reviewing the current Supreme Court, one does not find a single degree held by any of the justices in biology, medicine, epidemiology or public health. The inability to distinguish between the purchase of a litre of Scotch that takes 2 minutes and the worship of a deity that goes on for an hour, the court is really not qualified to sit in judgment on what public policy should be.

One does not see any theologians among the justices either. At least, there is no scripture among the Abrahamic religions one can find that demands believers to assembly in large numbers during a plague. Indeed, one is prepared to suggest there is not such scripture among any other faiths. At the same time, one can cite Jesus of Nazareth himself in Mark 12:17 as saying "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's." In short, the realm of Caesar is distinct from the realm of God, and authority in both must be obeyed. By obeying Caesar (in this case Governor Cuomo, another of Italian descent), they are not disobeying God, and so it seems, Justice Gorsuch's savior (he is an Episcopalian, although raised Catholic) disagrees with his decision.

St. Paul (Saul of Tarsus as he is known here) in Romans 13:1 is even more direct, "Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities."

This journal, atheist in outlook though it is, is quite comfortable with the idea of religious freedom. People should be allowed to follow whatever superstition gets them over the fear of the dark. As with all freedoms, however, it must be limited to ensure that others enjoy similar liberties. As Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., stated it, "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." Thus, religious freedom in America does not extend to human sacrifice. That remains against the law.

So where does the right of the faithful to infect others arise? If a person attends a religious service and is infected by others in attendance, it is entirely possible that that person can go on to infect others who were not in attendance and who have other beliefs. Usually, the law holds the infection of one person by another as just one of those things that happens to people who are alive. Humans get sick. Yet, one must wonder if there is not some liability that arises from willfully risking exposure and then milling around with others in secular society. The right to take communion in large groups ends where the other man's immune system begins.

It is a shame that the Supreme Court has joined President Trump in supporting the virus rather than the human race.


© Copyright 2020 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.


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