# "Let's Put God In Charge Of The Judiciary!" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 9, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556 "2005-04-09T13:41:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/21 "2005-04-10T04:50:52Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I’m still holding onto the hope that Nehemiah Scudder will continue to be fiction. Heinlein would have been the first to tell you that he was no psychic, and I don’t think the American people are stupid. Scared, yes, and willing to follow whoever can claim safety the loudest, but not stupid. Public reaction to the Congressional free-for-all over Terry Schiavo was encouraging. “Whatever became of Agnew?” – Robert A. Heinlein, 1960 You pushed one of my buttons, JayJay [ul][li]Solar power? Check.[/li][li]Urban sprawl along routes connecting major cities, with concomitant shrinking of central cities? Check.[/li][li]Resurgence of interest in witchcraft? Check.[/li][li]Spread of fundamentalism outside the Bible Belt? Check.[/li][li]Streaking? Check.[/li][li]Recrudescence of Neonazism? Check.[/li][li]Life prolongation by intensive invasive devices when the body is no longer self-sustaining? Check.[/li][li]TV ads for birth control? Check.[/li][li]Earrings on males as part of a macho image? Check.[/li][li]Household automatic cleaning devices and CAD systems? Check.[/li][li]Televangelist running for President? Check.[/li][li]Kettle-Belly’s shopping list of" hallmarks of a sick culture"? Check.[/li][li]A chief executive whose wife advises him on the basis of what her astrologer tells her?!? Check.[/li][/ul] …and that’s only a partial list. I **hate** playing Cassandra. But I don’t think your hope is particularly well-founded any more. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/22 "2005-04-10T05:54:29Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > \ Hell, if we’re going to bet on Heinlein, I want to be a Howard! And there are quite a few points where, while I can understand Heinlein’s point of view and acknowledge that it’s valid, there are others where I’m distinctly uncomfortable offering my imprimatur, so I’ll continue to be foolishly optimistic on the Scudder point. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/23 "2005-04-10T06:11:47Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Hell, if we’re going to bet on Heinlein, I want to be a Howard! Hey, in my hometown, Woody Smith lived a couple of doors away from Maureen Johnson. (And Paul Remillard was four blocks away from them.) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/24 "2005-04-10T06:30:44Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Scared, yes, and willing to follow whoever can claim safety the loudest, but not stupid. Please reassure me by explaining how “willing[ness] to follow whoever can claim safety the loudest” differs functionally from stupidity. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/25 "2005-04-10T17:33:44Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > [li]Streaking? Check.[/li] Oh, dear God! I do not need to see Pat Robertson streaking! ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/26 "2005-04-10T21:48:03Z")
You know, left to my own devices, if I hadn’t opened this thread, the only naked man I would have pictured this evening is the lovely, slender, hairy, rather muscular one I’ve been dating. Instead, you two’ve given me _Pat Robertson_?!! :eek: :eek: **Polycarp** , I can resume work on the pi shawl! 😃 Getting back to the OP, as the whole Terry Schiavo mess reached it’s peak, I remember thinking that some of our politicians are about to learn an important lesson. Summoning the demon is easy. Getting him to do what you want is the hard part. It’s also dangerous. CJ ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/27 "2005-04-10T21:54:29Z")
Or as many dabblers in the black arts have found. “Do not summon what you do not know how to put down!” ~eldritch laugh~ ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/28 "2005-04-10T21:57:57Z")
Yeh, laugh whle you can – those demons don’t stop at destroying the ones who summoned them. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/29 "2005-04-10T22:57:55Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Or as many dabblers in the black arts have found. “Do not summon what you do not know how to put down!” > > ~eldritch laugh~ Reminds me of the motto for Frog Pond Occult Investigations and Roof Top Cafe: If you’ve summoned it, then summon us. Regarding the OP: I’d rather have no religion in my politics and no politics in my religion. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/30 "2005-04-10T23:09:54Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > Reminds me of the motto for Frog Pond Occult Investigations and Roof Top Cafe: If you’ve summoned it, then summon us. Source, please? 😕🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/31 "2005-04-10T23:26:42Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > Regarding the OP: I’d rather have no religion in my politics and no politics in my religion. Now I’m picturing the Christian Coalition’s next television ad campaign… [Clean-cut young man is walking down the path, reading his Bible. He nears a group picketing an abortion clinic. Clean-cut young woman holding a picket sign with the slogan “Aren’t you glad your mother was pro-life?” comes into view. Clean-cut young man and clean-cut young woman collide, sending the Bible and sign flying.] CCYM: Hey! You got your politics in my religion! CCYW: You got your religion in my politics! CCYM: Wait…that looks pretty good to me. CCYW: Me, too! CCYW & CCYM: Two great tastes that go great together! Faith-based politics…try it today! [Fade out] ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/32 "2005-04-11T21:30:20Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Hell, if we’re going to bet on Heinlein, I want to be a Howard! Elder John [Sperling](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/immortal.html?tw=wn_tophead_4) is hard at work. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/33 "2005-04-13T01:32:47Z")
> [@Dr. Love](#): > > Now, maybe it’s just me, but when your political beliefs lead you to favorable quote Joseph Stalin, it might be about time to reexamine your beliefs. Not to be outdone, [James Dobson](http://mediamatters.org/items/200504110005) compared the Supreme Court to the KKK: > [@](#): > > I heard a minister the other day talking about the great injustice and evil of the men in white robes, the Ku Klux Klan, that roamed the country in the South and they did great wrong to civil rights to and to morality and now we have black-robed men. :rolleyes: Scary business. I’m praying a backlash really does occur among my saner fellow citizens. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/34 "2005-04-13T02:25:10Z")
Behold: Unto us have come The Dominionists: [http://www.web-ministry.com/linearpost.php?postID=8632](http://www.web-ministry.com/linearpost.php?postID=8632) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Dr.Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Love)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/35 "2005-04-13T02:36:26Z")
It gets worse. From this [Salon](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/04/11/judicial_conference/) article: > [@](#): > > “Here again I draw on the wisdom of Stalin. We’re talking about the **greatest political figure of the 20th century** … He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him whenever he ran into difficulty. ‘No man, no problem.’” > > The audience laughed, and Vieira repeated it. “‘No man, no problem.’ This is not a structural problem we have. This is a problem of personnel.” :eek: Surely, this must be someone’s idea of a joke. There’s no one out there that’s really like this, right? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/36 "2005-04-13T02:54:51Z")
I am always a little suspicious of anyone who thinks they can tell me what God wants… ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/37 "2005-04-13T03:43:36Z")
Read this recently: _Religion is used as a club and a cloak by both politicians and moralists, all of them lusting for power and most of them palpable frauds. H. L. Mencken_ ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/38 "2005-04-13T19:42:05Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5449408&postcount=106](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5449408&postcount=106) Administration’s only about 4 months into its second 4 years. I don’t feel any better about it all now than I did in early November. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/39 "2005-04-13T20:49:22Z")
> [@](#): > > “Do not summon what you do not know how to put down!” Shoot, I thought it was “Don’t summon anything bigger than your head.” Maybe that’s for freshmen. The quotes being given are scary. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556/40 "2005-04-13T21:08:35Z")
No, that’s “Never _swallow_ anything bigger than your head.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-put-god-in-charge-of-the-judiciary/298556.md?page=3)