The so called "religious right" will be wailing and gnashing their proverbial teeth before this one fades from memory.
Posted on 10/09/2005 5:47:25 AM PDT by Crackingham
It was early on the first Monday in October, two hours before the Supreme Court heard its first case of the new term, that President Bush announced the nomination of Harriet Miers to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. That evening, James Dobson, the founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, a vast evangelical ministry based in Colorado Springs, came out strongly in favor of the choice. On Fox News, Dobson conceded he hadn't met Miers, but said he could support her nomination because the president had appointed high-quality judges and thus could be trusted to make another good choice. "Beyond that," he said, "I do know things that I am not prepared to talk about here."
That comment, surely not in the White House talking points, led Senate Democrats to wonder whether Miers might have made commitments to her sponsors as to how she would decide certain cases. And so on Tuesday, the second day of her young and already controversial nomination, she found herself having to assure the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, that she had spoken to no one about how she might vote.
What "things," then, does Dobson know? "There are some things we learned about her Christian commitment," an aide to Dobson told me, speaking not for attribution. And those things very likely are among the ones that within 48 hours of her nomination were being widely reported. The stories relied on sources authorized by the handlers of the Miers nomination, who also spoke to evangelical leaders. Those sources include Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht and Miers's pastor, Ron Key, who both are from Dallas, the nominee's hometown. Both are longtime friends and share her Christian faith, which, like the president's, is that of an evangelical Protestant.
Born in Dallas in 1945, Miers graduated from Hillcrest High School, then took her undergraduate degree (in mathematics) and her law degree at Southern Methodist University, not more than a ten-minute drive from Hillcrest. After clerking for a federal district judge, she joined a prestigious Dallas firm, Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely, where she soon made partner, specializing in commercial litigation. For Miers, however, career success only went so far, says Hecht, then a junior lawyer at Locke Purnell. "She began thinking about what's important--what do I want to believe and what will give me meaning."
Miers had grown up going to Catholic and Episcopal churches, but her faith had yet to acquire depth, says Hecht, who likely is the person Dobson was referring to last week when he told the New York Times, "I know the person who brought her to the Lord." In 1979, during one of evidently many conversations with Hecht about ultimate questions, Miers decided to become a believer--in the well-known evangelical vernacular, to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. "I was with her at the time," says Hecht, and the question came up about where she might go to church. "I said, 'Why don't you come with me to my church?'" She did, and soon she was baptized (full immersion) and became a member of Valley View Christian Church, in North Dallas.
Ron Key became pastor of Valley View in 1972, eight years after its founding. Christian Churches like Valley View are descended from the early nineteenth century Restorationist Movement, so-called because of its intention to restore New Testament teaching about the church. Valley View is part of what Key calls "a loose confederation" of Christian Churches known as the North American Christian Convention. It was formed in 1927, at a time when Protestant churches generally were dividing along theologically progressive and conservative lines. The conservatives among the restorationists called themselves "independents," and the North American Christian Convention amounted to a declaration of their independence from the liberal programs and doctrines of the (also restorationist) Disciples of Christ. The convention has not evolved into a denomination (which is why Valley View describes itself as "nondenominational") and remains still simply a fellowship of like-minded churches whose doctrines are within the mainstream of American evangelicalism. As a visitor to www.vvcc.org can see, the church believes in the Bible as "the only infallible, inspired, authoritative Word of God" and that "to receive Christ is to believe in Jesus as God's Son and Savior of the world, repent of personal sin, confess Christ publicly and be baptized."
Valley View teaches certain moral views that it believes are grounded in the Bible. Most notably, it is pro-life and opposes same-sex marriage. But Key says that the church doesn't treat those matters in isolation. "The major issue is Jesus Christ," he says, and "the need to lift him up" and for people to "walk with Christ" in their own personal lives. It would be hard to imagine many attending Valley View for two decades as Miers did who hold different views on such questions. Several friends of Miers told me, on background, that she is pro-life and defines marriage in traditional terms.
Dr. Dobbs was again summoned to the WH for another shoring up session about HM.
When was this?
The so called "religious right" will be wailing and gnashing their proverbial teeth before this one fades from memory.
I can't imagine a more solid recommendation than that - not Dobson - the doctrine.
Refreshing!
Wait a minute. In the Roberts nomination we weren't supposed to get into religious test. Any mention from Dick Turbin or the like that Roberts was Catholic (whispers: Catholic) was not to be met with scowls and condemnation.
Oh well, new nominee, new playbook.
Roberts = Catholic
JFK was Catholic.
i.e.: Roberts was okay.
Miers is not Catholic.
Therefore, she's not okay.
That is the most ridiculous thing I've seen posted in a long time.
Her religion should not be an issue, although it is a net positive to me. What part of "no religious test" don't you understand?
I suppose Martin Luther offered her a better deal.
If she was Catholic, it wouldn't be.
Teddy Kennedy is Catholic.
But Miers dared to leave the fold.
More like Calvin
Your (slanderous) allegations are totally without merit.
And Miers is a lame-a** nominee, regardless of her professed faith.
Thus my tagline.
And you know all about her, right?
And you're not?
Methinks thou protesteth too much.
Remember that although we have a R majority, Snowe, Collins, Chaffe and the Gang of 14 mean we do NOT have a conservative majority.
It's amazing how brave an anonymous forum allows people to be. Make that comment to my face, and I'd knock you on your a**. You've got a big mouth and a helluva lot of nerve, and I'd suggest you refrain from slandering people you've never met.
Now, to answer your question directly (though I shouldn't have to), no I'm not. If you knew me personally, you'd know how laughable that comment actually is.
Dolt.
The only difference between you and me is that I prefer to dwell in the realm of reality, whereas you have chosen to reside in dreamland, where this woman is somehow equipped to become one of nine justices that will decide the future of nearly three hundred million American citizens.
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