A GOP Supreme Court: Christianity’s EpiPen against the American Majority
71%. That is the percentage of American citizens that agree the decision to terminate a pregnancy should be left between the pregnant woman and her doctor. More specifically, a majority of both liberal and conservative women hold this belief at 74% and 66% respectively, showcasing a rare social agreement across both aisles of the political spectrum. This belief also resonates within a majority of liberal men and is even represented by a hefty minority of conservative men. From this data and numerous reliable polls, America’s illustration of support for abortion access is undeniable. For those with some knowledge of the job the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are tasked with, you may find yourself thinking “well, it’s not the job of the Court do adjudicate according to statistics.” In response to that statement I say…you are completely correct. The Court’s justices are tasked with adjudicating pursuant to their interpretation of the Constitution, the blueprint for our country’s civil liberties.
It’s under the lens of constitutional interpretation that our civil liberties should be examined. However, the GOP-appointed justices have confirmed our suspicion their originalist interpretation method is a smokescreen. It’s a veil designed to cloak their true method of examination: their Christian conservative values. Drawing inspiration from a fictional and fanatical text written 3,000 years ago in a time where civil liberties were nonexistent, this now stands as the lens for the GOP-appointed justices constitutional “interpretation.” Of course, no one is saying belonging to a religious faith is grounds to preclude a spot on our nation’s highest court, but do not be naive - it is no coincidence the recent plethora of pro-religion rulings has emerged from a bench overwhelmingly Christian conservative. Even more concerning, each of the pro-religion rulings issued in the past 6 years have been specifically pro-Christian. This is the intended affect of each one of former President Trump’s appointments. We now live in an age where each civil liberty that may be implicated in a fanatical 3,000 year old text that reaches the high Court must satisfy the fanatical corollaries of the Christian text. Perhaps you believe this claim to be false. Perhaps you believe this examination is maligned with the facts, that it is simply a rigorous constitutional struggle between federal and state purviews, and that right to abortion access falls under the latter. This belief will be explored more thoroughly below.
In an effort to dispel the criticisms of the left (and countless constitutional experts and scholars), the Court has declared Roe was unjustly legislated from the bench, depriving it the proper forum of being legislated at the state level. This is nothing more than an anxiously-erected strawman rebuttal. In fact, a few simple searches online demonstrate the primary motivator in several state legislatures issuing abortion bans is indeed their Christian values. Just today a friend sent me a video of a lawmaker declaring a victory for the “pro-life” movement as it serves as a triumph for the sanctity of life - a view hypocritically boasted by Christian conservatives nationwide. This shared belief doesn’t originate from any firm policy analysis, but rather countless Christian lawmaker’s religious beliefs. This unequivocally violates the prohibition of State (federal or state) endorsement of religion by severing the Establishment’s clause intent of separation of church and state. As you witness these shameless confessions of Christian conservative lawmakers, it’s difficult not to ask how could they so confidently confess to obstructing such a vital provision of the Establishment clause? Well, it’s because they sleep soundly at night knowing their collaborators on the nation’s highest court serve as their Christian fairy godmother and fathers. Essentially, today’s American Christian faith has an all out fatal allergy to contemporary American values on abortion. Once modern American values go into full bloom, Christian conservatives everywhere reach for their EpiPen: their GOP Supreme Court.
However, the laundry list of pro-Christian rulings handed down in the past 6 years may also serve as an attempt to assure a diminishing religion’s base that its flavor isn’t growing lackluster. Unfortunately, this image is far from the picture that current data paints. As it stands today in American society, 63% of the public identify as Christian. But the reality behind this majority is far more complex. The aforementioned percentage dropped a significant 12% since 2011, while those with no specific religious affiliation including atheism and agnostic rose 11% from 18% in 2011 to 29% in 2021. Now, almost a jaw-dropping third of the country does not identify as religious or religiously-active. Christian Protestants witnessed an astonishing decrease of 40% from 51% in 2011 down to 11% in 2021. Last, American Catholics, a faction renowned for fighting for denial to abortion access represent a mere 21% of the American population. As the numbers stand this fact is even more fascinating, as more Americans identify as non-religious than the very faith of the GOP’s SC justices that have raped millions of women of their right to bodily autonomy. Though all things considered, it should come as no shock at learning of yet another rape committed in the name of Catholicism.
This foul series of rapes against the civil liberties of millions across the nation have all been executed under the framework of a religion that if current trends hold, will be exercised by an insignificant faction of American society. This of course is not new. Christian influence has undeniably been entangled with the construction of America’s socio-political laws for centuries. How mortified the founders, both federalist and anti-federalists, would find themselves to learn their fundamentally agreed principle of separation of Church and State has yet to be fulfilled in the 234 years following the Constitution’s ratification. It is truly sad to witness “no good deed goes unpunished”, especially under the viral infection of American Christianity. This virus has infected and occupied the body of our republic’s constitution for far too long. What seems utterly lost among the GOP Supreme Court is that the Establishment clause is a twin, a provision each for the protection for and protection from religion. Under their fanatical interpretation, the former twin is enshrined whilst all but guaranteeing the latter being withered.
On the 24th day of June 2022, former first lady Michelle Obama released a statement urging those who seek the promotion for women’s bodily autonomy to keep fighting - it is not the end. These words should capture the spirit of all those who seek freedom from the zealotry of SCOTUS justices such as Clarence Thomas and his perverse elk. Our resolve must be more ironclad than any period prior. Fanatics of a diminishing religion got a big win today, let’s ensure it’s their last so that we may be that much closer to a more perfect union.
