The questions keep coming…

In the LATimes

Cathy Young in the Boston Globe

Philosophically, we are now light years away from the era in which John F. Kennedy made his plea for separation of politics and faith. We live in a time when there is a growing movement, backed by most conservatives, for the Catholic Church to excommunicate public officials who support abortion rights. If religion is going to have that kind of political influence, it’s a bit hypocritical to complain when a politician’s or judge’s religion becomes an issue. A candidate’s or nominee’s ideology should be fair game whether it’s religious or secular in nature, whether it’s rooted in conservative Catholicism or liberal feminism.

Conversely, a non-religious ideological witch hunt can be just as bad as a religious one; look at the attempts to exploit Roberts’s ties to the Federalist Society, a group whose membership spans a wide range of conservative and libertarian views. (Full disclosure: I have been a paid speaker at several of the society’s events.)

As for complaints of ”religious intolerance," let’s not forget that, in today’s America, an outspoken atheist would have a snowball’s chance in hell of being confirmed for a federal judgeship. For that matter, he would never be nominated.