Preserve the Balance
Team Supreme Blog
Justice Sunday Three and the Faith-Based Initiative: The Best Justice That Money Can Buy
Here we go again. The hearings on nominee Samuel Alito are set to begin on today. Last night, anti-gay and anti-choice activists gathered in Philadelphia for "Justice Sunday III: Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land." The lineup included the usual suspects—James Dobson, Tony Perkins of Focus on the Family, Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, and Jerry Falwell.
New additions to the evening’s programs included Philadelphia-based pastor Herb Lusk, a partisan activist whose church has received more than $1 million from the Bush Administration’s "Faith-Based Initiative." What a coincidence that he would agree to be on the program.
In fact, Reverend Lusk made no secret of the fact that his participating in Justice Sunday has nothing to do with Alito’s merit as a potential justice and a lot to do with rolling back GLBT rights, admitting to the New York Times that "I don't know enough about him to say I actually think he's the right man to do the job … I'm saying I trust a friend of mine [President Bush] who promised me that he would appoint people to the justice system that would be attentive to the needs I care about." According to the times, these needs stopping marriage equality and breaking down the wall between church and state.
Speakers at previous "Justice Sunday" events made clear that “activist judges” meant judges who rule in favor of GLBT equality. We expect this event to be no different.
By now we’re used to shameless displays of partisanship disguised as religion, and the anti-gay baggage that comes with it. Justice Sunday III takes the cake, though, because on top of all that, it entangles government favors with advocacy about our most independent branch of government.
Real justice can’t be bought. We hope that the United States Senate understands that and does its duty to disregard the anti-gay hysteria that Justice Sunday III is likely to dish out.
New additions to the evening’s programs included Philadelphia-based pastor Herb Lusk, a partisan activist whose church has received more than $1 million from the Bush Administration’s "Faith-Based Initiative." What a coincidence that he would agree to be on the program.
In fact, Reverend Lusk made no secret of the fact that his participating in Justice Sunday has nothing to do with Alito’s merit as a potential justice and a lot to do with rolling back GLBT rights, admitting to the New York Times that "I don't know enough about him to say I actually think he's the right man to do the job … I'm saying I trust a friend of mine [President Bush] who promised me that he would appoint people to the justice system that would be attentive to the needs I care about." According to the times, these needs stopping marriage equality and breaking down the wall between church and state.
Speakers at previous "Justice Sunday" events made clear that “activist judges” meant judges who rule in favor of GLBT equality. We expect this event to be no different.
By now we’re used to shameless displays of partisanship disguised as religion, and the anti-gay baggage that comes with it. Justice Sunday III takes the cake, though, because on top of all that, it entangles government favors with advocacy about our most independent branch of government.
Real justice can’t be bought. We hope that the United States Senate understands that and does its duty to disregard the anti-gay hysteria that Justice Sunday III is likely to dish out.
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