Some SCOTUS justices held prayer meetings with religious group that advocated before the Court?

I know you mean no offense, but saying that churches that don't view scripture that way as "bend[ing] to the wind" is offensive to a Catholic, as our church is not sola scriptura. Besides the Bart Ehrman problem, there is also the issue that the glorified Christ established a Church, not a book

 

I can sympathise with that and your point about the difference is noted.

 

Probably should have used a better term.
I think its the right word by definition, but it has been so politicized in general.

Our church is modern and non traditional in terms of music, multi media and dress. (I'm usually found in flip flops, shorts and a Rays hat on Sunday)

But we dont get loose with letting the current trends interpret scripture.

 

Using a broad brush to put down many on this board.

 

To be clear. We agree.

By bending to the wind, i mean mostly the church wind. (The desire for churches to be political, pick singular sins to harp on, prosperity etc).

 

How so? The comment is aimed at the ones who tell us that prayer is a "fairy tale" and we lack "reason". Of which both get said here often. (They know who they are)

A broad brush would be had I said a specific group ALL deny prayer.

I have people very close to me that will literally pray that Rie stand and I have people that will pray it is abolished forever. One side does not own prayer.

 

No problem. Knew your intent. But so many non Christians (and many Christians), believe that there is no Christianity but those who believe in the inerrant text. In point of fact, worldwide, the majority of professing Christians do not adopt that view. I'm not suggesting that a mere majority status delegitimizes that theology. To do so would be to suggest that Luther had no valid critiques. I am saying that it's often simply presumed as beyond dispute that there is no role for tradition or what we would call the magisterium in belief, when it's nowhere near that.

Edited to add. I hate the use of the term "Christian" generically to describe all Christians when they really mean Evangelical Protestantism the same way I hated the Miami team calling themselves the "Florida Marlins" until 2011.

 

Agree.

Lets not forget that the scriptures themselves tell is that the earth could not hold the books that it would take to tell it all. We have the basic, needed instructions, but our eyes are not open to nearly all of it

 

I mean, if your business was involved in an important lawsuit, would you sleep easy knowing that the judge was having closed-door dinners with your opponent?

Freedom of association is protected as well, but judges are expected to restrain themselves to avoid the appearance of bias.

There are plenty of other people that the justices can pray with. For them to be doing that--or really anything--in private with a litigant in one of their cases is a major, major breach of judicial ethics.

 

Okay then I have no issue with your church, but it appears that isn’t the trend. As a result the country is turning more secular and the Christofascists are forcing their religious beliefs on the population by removing the establishment clause in areas of our life it shouldn’t, like public schools. They’re not that far away from naming an official religion. I spoke to a lady the other day who insisted we were a Judeo Christian country only.

 

@tilly

More than half of Floridians oppose abortion bans. Will they push back at the polls?

Great article about what we were talking about.

Looks like Desantis is going to go after a full ban.

Game on.

 

Many versions of this going around Twitter, which says a lot about how the FFs would view the decision, tongue in cheek, but accurate

 

I’m going to weigh in here as an impartial judge. I think @tilly is correct about midterms, the pocketbook will outweigh anything else, plus this is historically a poor election for the incumbent’s party.

Dismissing the praying as a nothing burger is incorrect. It’s literally not about the praying but the association with a litigant in private meetings. As @PerSeGator notes, closed door dinners, or golf outings, etc. erode the confidence the court will be impartial and for good reason.

 

Conservative churches generally have more strict interpretation of the bible

 

This is more along the lines of what I meant than a political meaning, yes.

Even strict interpretation has its debates though. To me, strict interpretation tells me that Jesus didnt care mich about politics, while often the most extreme (minority) "conservative" churches will tell you that he had a political answer for everything because they want (need) Him too for some strange reason.

 

I once had an interesting hearing in Walton County after which the Judge invited everyone to load up in his truck and ride for what seemed like forever to eat at his favorite fried chicken joint somewhere in the middle of nowhere that I'm not sure was even on a map. But he invited all counsel and parties, and I wasn't going to miss out and risk the other side getting face time with the Judge in my absence. The only question was whether I could bill for it since I felt compelled to go. Chicken was great though.

 

You guys are pretty creative with the billing. I'd say you could have figured it out.

 

Seperation of church and state - A fantasy in the USA

 

Did you give them the “bootstrap” lecture?