Friday, July 18, 2003 | 6:11 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
July 20, 2003
Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.
CLEANLINESS used to be next to godliness. Now it is politics that is trying to get close.
How else can anyone explain what is happening in this country as the name, power and vast stores of goodwill invested in the name of God are invoked on behalf of some petty political moves by what have become petty political people.
How does this sound so far for a column subject on a Sunday morning?
I don't know if the irony has escaped anyone over the age of 40 -- because that is how old you have to be to remember the "Impeach Earl Warren" bumper stickers that decorated those shiny chrome wraparounds that flashed such brilliance on the hot cars of another generation -- but it is clear to me that we have not progressed very far from those dark days when just the mention of the name of the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court was flirting with the devil.
For those unfamiliar with that slice of history, Earl Warren was a governor of California who was appointed to the high court by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. As a Republican, Warren caught Ike's attention as a man of some conservative inclinations, much to the delight of the GOP in the Senate, which advised favorably and consented to their president's fine choice. It didn't take long for all that warm and fuzzy feeling to fade.
You see, Earl Warren may have been of the Republican persuasion, but he was first, last and always an American. As such, he was compelled to lead the Supreme Court -- kicking as hard as it could -- out of the mental chains of the 19th century and forcefully into the 20th century thought process. His court gave us, along with an expansion of individual rights and liberties, the famous Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark case which declared that separate schools could not be equal and, therefore, struck down the notion of segregation in the public school system.
It didn't take long for an ugly part of this great country to rise up and paint "Impeach Earl Warren" signs, which graced the yards of many bigoted Americans, many of whom lived right here in Las Vegas. That movement became the rallying cry of unhappy people who didn't like the march of time and the progress that inevitably came with it.
Was the Supreme Court always right? Just like in golf, where someone likes every shot, so, too, was the Supreme Court the savior of the republic to some and its downfall to others. But we managed to get through the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s without a Supreme Court impeachment, which speaks volumes about the deep-felt belief by the American people in the sanctity of the court system as the final arbiter of individual rights and liberties in this country. We will mess with the presidency and the legislative branch long before we interfere with the courts.
That hands-off theory has been tested in recent years with such controversial decisions as Roe v. Wade, which found that Americans have a fundamental right to privacy, which cannot be invaded by our government. Those who oppose a woman's right to decide what happens to her own body have long believed that the court went too far, and they haven't been shy about expressing that position. Even, unfortunately, to the point of violating every known religious tenet by murdering innocent people. But, with all the emotion and rancor aside, no one has trotted out the "Impeach Earl Warren" signs for a name change.
What we have recently witnessed, however, is far worse.
Pat Robertson, the man many of us grew up watching and who invokes the name of God for all manner of good works on our television sets, has finally set his sights on a not-so-heavenly pursuit.
No one has begrudged him the millions of dollars he rakes in every year preaching to the masses because he has managed to be a force for mostly good in his work. Whether people follow their local pastors on Sunday or a man like Robertson, courtesy of the mass media, as long as their intentions are good and their actions have been better, we have to say amen to that.
Last week, though, Robertson stepped way out of bounds by invoking God's help -- and encouraging his flock across America to do the same -- to put in the hearts and minds of some of the justices of the Supreme Court the idea that they have overstayed their welcome. Besides the absurdity of it all, it is downright presumptuous and blasphemous. Amen.
Robertson wants everyone to pray and pray hard so that the Almighty will inject into the consciousness of these justices the need to leave the bench so that they may not and will not mess with any more interpretations of the Constitution that Robertson and clan may find objectionable.
Like God really cares what the people in this country do in 2003! If everything we are supposed to know about the Almighty's grand plan for mankind is true, then what we do today or, even tomorrow, next year and next decade, will have little or no effect on the final outcome. Besides, God may like what this Supreme Court is doing. That is, if he can give what it is doing the kind of attention it deserves, given the fact that millions of people being slaughtered in Africa and children being butchered in other parts of the world may require his more immediate attention.
So, who does Pat Robertson think he is that he can get a whole country praying for what only a part of the country may want and, for all we know, God wants no part of in the first place? Now don't get too excited, it is just a question, after all. Besides, God is omnipotent, so he, more than any in his flock, understands the need for a separation between church and state.
I know I shouldn't be so cynical about what some people care so deeply about, but it just seems to me that we are using the power of prayer for the wrong things.
Our political process can deal with the presidency, the legislature and even the Supreme Court. Where we really need some help and some divine intervention is in sorting out the mess in Africa and straightening out a few twisted minds in the Middle East that preach the death of innocents in the name of God. When we are done there, how about some prayer to focus attention on the destruction of the ozone layer -- you know, that thing that is making it so hot around here -- and on the way the haves in the world mistreat those who don't have.
Now, those are some big things that God can get behind. When he is all done fixing that stuff then, I suppose, he can pay attention to Pat Robertson's petty prayers.
Or, he can just continue to ignore him, which is a trait right up there next to godliness. Amen.
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