A reader comments on my defense of the law’s neutrality on divisive moral questions:
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., probably my favorite Supreme Court personality, had a quote that sums up the role of the courts in adjudicating non-sectarian civil law: "If my fellow citizens want to go to hell I will help them. It’s my job."
The Constitution was not designed to get anyone to Heaven, it was designed to allow each of us to pursue our own route. It seems to me that this is a favorable condition for Christians to practice their faith actively and consciously. Creating a society whose guiding principle is providing an easy path for people of faith seems to rob credit from the faithful, the object of their faith, and the health of the broader civil society.
I couldn’t agree more. The Christianists are not only undermining democracy; they are condescending to real believers. Real believers, who also know doubt, don’t need the government or any legal education to grapple with the ineffability of the divine.
The Dish 