An Early Skirmish With America's Christian Nationalist Supreme Court

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A press release from The Satanic Temple (TST) states that the TST has lost its Supreme Court motion to disqualify Justice Amy Coney Barrett, alleging it is reasonable to believe that she cannot impartially consider a case involving abortion. The press release comments:

TST's complaint was initially filed when TST member Judy Doe, seeking an abortion in Missouri, was forced to accept literature that asserted the position that life begins at conception and then was made to endured a three-day waiting period that was designed to instill guilt and shame for her decision. TST argued that the imposition of this arbitrary view on when life begins violates their religious beliefs of science and bodily autonomy and creates an unconstitutional undue burden on Doe's religious practices. The Eighth Circuit Court dismissed the case and held that Missouri's proclamations do not violate Doe's free exercise of religion, even though they are rooted in Catholic dogma. TST appealed this decision to the Supreme Court.

In its motion to disqualify, TST stated that "any objective observer would reasonably believe it is unlikely Justice Barrett could set aside her deeply-held religious beliefs on the illegitimacy of abortion and barbarity of [Roe v. Wade] to render an impartial decision on the Petition." TST spokesperson and cofounder Lucien Greaves states, "We cited numerous examples in our motion that unequivocally display Justice Barrett's hostility towards the act of terminating a pregnancy. Yet, the Supreme Court refused to recognize that her dogmatic conclusions related to abortion, which she announced publicly, can reasonably affect her ability to impartially rule on our religious freedom claims."

Greaves continues, "Federal law states that judges must disqualify themselves in any proceeding in which their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. Because the Supreme Court has essentially removed any basis for asserting bias, they invite questions about the legitimacy of the legal system as a whole. When the Supreme Court considers if they will hear our abortion case in conference on November 20, we hope for the sake of upholding fair and impartial jurisprudence that they will make decisions justified by established legal precedence."

Barrett has made her bitter opposition to abortion perfectly clear. Her impartiality can reasonably be questioned. She is clearly biased and should recuse herself. But under our Christian Nationalist Supreme Court, concerns like this will routinely be swept away. A major point of the Evangelical radical right putting her on the court was to get rid of Roe v. Wade once and for all.

TST religion is not a religion

The other, equally or more concerning aspect of this is the decision Eighth Circuit Court that dismissed Doe's case and held that Missouri's law did not violate Doe's free exercise of her religion. Doe is a member of TST, which is an officially recognized religion under US law. She adheres to the TST religion. In essence, the Eighth Circuit did not recognize the TST as an official religion, at least implying that the Missouri law could not be a burden on her religious exercise. 

TST religious dogma on abortion is clear. TST abortion tenets hold that women have bodily autonomy and members should act in accordance with scientific evidence. TST describes its religious abortion ritual like this:

The Satanic Temple has announced that its Satanic abortion ritual exempts TST members from enduring medically unnecessary and unscientific regulations when seeking to terminate their pregnancy. The ritual involves the recitation of two of our tenets and a personal affirmation that is ceremoniously intertwined with the abortion. Because prerequisite procedures such as waiting periods, mandatory viewing of sonograms, and compulsory counseling contravene Satanists’ religious convictions, those who perform the religious abortion ritual are exempt from these requirements and can receive first-trimester abortions on demand in states that have enacted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

First, the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause as well as several state Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRA), protects religious practices and beliefs from government interference. Second, state laws governing abortions commonly serve no medical purpose and do not result in better health outcomes. Therefore, they unlawfully hinder access to the Satanic abortion ritual.

White Christian Nationalist Ideology

Both the Eighth Circuit court decision and the Supreme Court decision are in accord with the tenets of Christian Nationalism, a religiously chauvinistic ideology that takes a hostile view of other religions and a place for them in American society. The group Christians Against Christian Nationalism describes it like this:

Christian nationalism seeks to merge Christian and American identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian. It often overlaps with and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation. We reject this damaging political ideology and invite our Christian brothers and sisters to join us in opposing this threat to our faith and to our nation.

As Christians, we are bound to Christ, not by citizenship, but by faith. We believe that:

People of all faiths and none have the right and responsibility to engage constructively in the public square.

Patriotism does not require us to minimize our religious convictions.

Government should not prefer one religion over another or religion over nonreligion.

America’s historic commitment to religious pluralism enables faith communities to live in civic harmony with one another without sacrificing our theological convictions.

This kind of intolerant, radical white Christian theocracy is the new normal that we can probably often or always expect to come from the federal courts for the next 20-30 years. That is what happens when the GOP turns authoritarian and intolerant of democratic norms.