The Death Of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Pushed Me To Join The Satanic Temple

I am a forty-something attorney and mother who lives in a quiet neighbourhood with a yard and a garage full of scooters and soccer balls. I often walk with my children to get ice cream and spend weekends hiking through a national park. I am not the type of person who would normally consider becoming a Satanist, but these are not normal times.

Like so many other women in the United States, when I learned of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing, my first reaction was not grief but fear. I fear that American citizens are inching closer to living in a theocracy or dictatorship and that the checks meant to prevent this from happening are close to eroding beyond repair.

When Justice Ginsburg died, I knew immediately that action was needed on a scale we have not seen before. Our democracy has become so fragile that the loss of one of the last guardians of common sense and decency in government less than two months before a pivotal election has put our civil and reproductive rights in danger like never before. And, so, I have turned to Satanism.

Members of the Satanic Temple do not believe in the supernatural or superstition. In the same way that some Unitarians and some Jews do not believe in God, Satanic Temple members do not worship Satan and most are atheists. They are not affiliated in any way with the Church of Satan. Instead, the Satanic Temple uses the devil as a symbol of rebellion.

Just like other faiths, the Satanic Temple has a code that their members believe in deeply and use to guide their lives. These Seven Fundamental Tenets include that “one should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason,” that “the struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions,” and that “one’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.”

Reading through the Seven Tenets, I was struck by how closely they aligned with the unwritten code I had used to try to guide my own life for several years. I realised, happily, that these were my people and that I had been a Satanist for several years without even knowing it. When Justice Ginsburg’s death suddenly made combating the threats to reproductive rights and a government free from religious interference more urgent, I knew it was time to join them and support their conceptual and legal battles.

Even before Ginsburg’s death, the Supreme Court was unwilling to provide adequate protection for a woman’s right to choose and to control her body. The court was unwilling to keep church and state separate. Now, without her voice of reason on the court ― let alone her vote ― Roe v. Wade is in imminent danger of being overturned not based on legal arguments or scientific reasoning, but because of religious objections to what is a safe and necessary procedure for the women who seek it out after discussion with their physician.

Ginsburg’s replacement is all but certain to be vehemently anti-choice, with one of the top contenders belonging to a sect that actually used the term “handmaid” to refer to some women until the popularity of the TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale” gave the term negative connotations.

Reading through the Seven Tenets, I was struck by how closely they aligned with the unwritten code I had used to try to guide my own life for several years. I realized, happily, that these were my people and that I had been a Satanist for several years without even knowing it.

In the hours after Justice Ginsburg’s death, I sat wondering what the future would hold for my daughters. Their ability to live in a country where the religious beliefs of others would not play a role in their right to assert autonomy over their own bodies was suddenly, starkly, in danger. Traditional means of keeping abortion safe and legal seemed woefully inadequate to protect the rights that women in the generation before me had fought so hard to secure.

Almost immediately I sought strength in the Satanic Temple’s efforts to turn religious arguments on their head by pushing for religious liberty for their members on an equal basis with believers in the dominant Christian faiths. And this is not just a theoretical push. The temple has launched campaigns and filed lawsuits to compel the government to do this in matters ranging from exemptions from legal mandates to cover birth control to the ability to display religious symbols in government buildings or allow religious clubs in public schools. By pointing out instances where the government has favoured Christian rhetoric ― and filing legal challenges to stop it ― the Satanic Temple has transformed belief into action and has demonstrated what freedom fighting truly looks like.

The Satanic Temple hopes to appear before the Supreme Court in a case challenging a Missouri abortion law that requires those seeking to terminate their pregnancy to first receive materials asserting that their abortion would end the life of a separate, unique person. The temple argues that these materials violate the deeply held religious beliefs of one of its members regarding bodily autonomy and scientifically reasonable personal choice.

The argument the Satanic Temple is using is the same one the Supreme Court effectively endorsed in the Hobby Lobby birth control case, for which Justice Ginsburg wrote the dissent ― that no one should have to follow a law that violates their deeply held religious beliefs. If a Christian should not have to do so based on their religion, a Satanist should not have to either. This is what equality under the law means on a fundamental level.

This is an organisation I want standing up for my rights and for my daughters’. While I support more mainstream groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Church and State, my research has shown that the Satanic Temple is truly in line with my beliefs about protecting our First Amendment rights and fighting laws that promote or are based on religious doctrine and that it is willing to use radical, creative and yet legally sound strategies to make its case.

I was able to become a mother when I wanted on my own terms. Throughout my pregnancy, I had access to scientifically accurate information and the ability to make informed choices with my doctor. While I never had an abortion, I want the same opportunities to choose for my own daughters. I am far from certain these rights will exist ten years from now when they may be deciding when, how or even whether to start their own families.

We need creative, resolute thinkers who are willing to stand up for what they believe in and take concrete action to do so, and the Satanic Temple is full of those kind of people. I am proud to now count myself among their ranks.

There is a real chance that the Supreme Court will be lost for a generation or more to justices appointed for their religious beliefs rather than a deep understanding of the Constitution or a desire for justice to be carried out on an impartial basis. Because of this, I believe that the Satanic Temple ― and its members’ dedication to fighting for true freedom ― represents our best, last defence against anti-choice lawmakers who are seeking to assert power over women’s bodies and take away our right to choose.

We need creative, resolute thinkers who are willing to stand up for what they believe in and take concrete action to do so, and the Satanic Temple is full of those kind of people. I am proud to now count myself among their ranks.

Everyone who cares about women having autonomy over their bodies should care about efforts to use religion to chip away at this right. We need to think outside the box to challenge what is coming and what is already here. The Satanic Temple is already doing that, and by becoming one of its members, I believe I have joined a community of people who will stop at nothing to safeguard my family’s rights ― and all of our rights ― when they are at their most vulnerable.

Jamie Smith is an attorney and mother who cares about civil rights. This article first appeared on HuffPost Personal.

Reference: HuffPost: Jamie Smith 4 days ago25/09.2020

Cardinal resigns amid London property scandal

The head of the Vatican’s saint-making office has resigned and renounced his rights as a cardinal amid a financial scandal involving a multi-million pound London property deal.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu’s shock departure from the post was revealed in a tight-lipped announcement last night, in which the Holy See said only that Pope Francis had accepted his resignation as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints “and his rights connected to the cardinalate”.

Becciu has reportedly been implicated in the scandal that has lost the Holy See millions of pounds in fees paid to middlemen. It remains unclear if his resignation is connected to his former role managing the Vatican’s asset portfolio. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The problems date back to 2014, when the Vatican invested more than $200million (£156 million) in a fund run by an Italian businessman.

The deal gave the Holy See 45 per cent of 60 Sloane Avenue, a luxury development in Chelsea. At the time Becciu was the Vatican’s deputy secretary of state, and reportedly was said to have personally authorised the investment. The Holy See decided in November 2018 to exit the fund, end its relationship with the businessman and buy out the remainder of the building.

The buyout deal cost the Holy See tens of millions of pounds more and sparked the Vatican investigation.

Becciu has pointed out that he had left the secretariat by the time of the buyout deal. A year-long inquiry into the scandal has seen a prosecutor place several Vatican officials under investigation as well as the middlemen, though not Becciu.

Secretary of State Pietro Parolin has said the whole matter was “opaque” and needed to be clarified.

The Pope has vowed to get to the bottom of what he has said was evidence of corruption in the Holy See.

Reference: Evening Standard: MIchael Howie 1 day ago: 25/09/2020

Japan Catholic Church sued for damages in alleged sex abuse

TOKYO (AP) — A woman has filed a suit against the Roman Catholic Church in Japan alleging that a priest raped her four decades ago, as the church's unfolding worldwide sexual abuse crisis gradually reaches Japan.

The civil lawsuit, filed this week in Sendai District Court, seeks 56.1 million yen ($534,000) in damages. It accuses a priest, who has not been charged or penalized, as well as a bishop who counseled the woman in recent years about the alleged abuse.

The suit, which also accuses the Diocese of Sendai in northeastern Japan, says the church refused to take the complaints seriously, causing psychological pain.

“I have filed this lawsuit to claim back the dignity I have lost, and to try to end this serious crime that is a violation of humanity,” said Harumi Suzuki, who has gone public with her name.

She said she lived through “more than 40 years of hell,” but wants to raise her voice for other abuse survivors.

“You are innocent, and you are not alone,” she said in a statement.

The Rev. Shiro Komatsu at the Sendai diocese said it has no comment because it has not seen the lawsuit.

Documents seen by The Associated Press show the diocese carried out an investigation by third-party lawyers into her case in 2016.

The investigation determined that the sexual act likely occurred but decided no criminal or civil responsibility could be pursued, given the passage of time and that the priest may have thought the act was consensual. Suzuki denies she consented.

The bishop, Martin Testuo Hiraga, who met often with Suzuki, has said it was hard to arrive at a solution and the priest has denied the allegations. The priest was not available for comment.

The priest is identified in the lawsuit, but lawyers for Suzuki requested that his name not be reported, for fear of a possible defamation lawsuit under Japanese law.

Suzuki, a Catholic, was a victim of domestic violence in 1977 and turned to the priest for consolation, according to the lawsuit. She was raped in the upstairs bedroom of the church during a counseling session, and suffered depression for years, it says.

“The Catholic Church is a giant organization of power for the believers and has their unconditional trust,” the lawsuit says. “Sexual violence by the clergy on members of the congregation is an extremely despicable act that takes advantage of the absolute inequality in power.”

Pressures are strong in conformity-oriented Japan for women not to speak out against sexual abuse. But the #MeToo movement is gradually starting to take off.

Yuma Sato, Suzuki’s attorney, said Japan’s justice system makes it very difficult to claim damages from sexual abuse unless acted on within a few years.

“But I hope this case sends a message about an effort to create change,” Sato said.

“We also want Japanese society to learn more about the problems in the church, its secrecy, its coverups and how perpetrators are going unpunished.”

Reference: By YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press 1 day ago: 25/09/2020