One nation, under God

It was Otto Bismarck who once said that "God has a special providence for fools, drunks and the United States of America." In the sweltering mid-August heat of the East Coast, providence is truly everywhere.

It is easy to discern it, for example, along Washington's Massachusetts Avenue, clogged with vehicles crawling from downtown toward Bethesda, Maryland, passing unawares by the large Church of the Little Flower the congregation to which John Roberts, candidate for Supreme Court justice, belongs.

Roberts' religious faith is now at the center of a stormy, albeit cautious, debate. He is both a Catholic and a conservative, and the question of how far one can go when speculating about the effect his religion will have on his nearly certain tenure in the court, is not a theoretical one. Indeed, it is a very practical question, which will no doubt influence the Senate hearing that will be held before his candidacy is approved and he is sworn in.

Last week Democratic Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois walked straight into this mine field. According to a report, which was later half-heartedly denied, the senator asked candidate Roberts during a meeting at the Senate what he would do if the law required making a ruling that his church considers to be immoral.

This is a particularly sensitive question in the Catholic context, because of the long arm of the Vatican, which expects that its faithful will act in accordance with its instructions. And it is perhaps even more sensitive because Roberts will be the fourth Catholic on the court, out of a total of nine justices.

A cemetery in FrederickOnly a few dozen miles from Roberts' church is the grave of the first Catholic ever appointed to the United States Supreme Court: Roger Taney. President Andrew Jackson nominated him, and the Senate was in no hurry to confirm his appointment. Not because he was a Catholic, but because of tensions and rivalries between the president and the legislature.

Jackson brought Taney's appointment for confirmation a second time this time as chief justice of the Supreme Court. It was 1836; Taney served until 1864. He swore in seven presidents, among them Abraham Lincoln. He acquired dubious fame for himself when he wrote the majority opinion on what is known as the Dred Scott decision a ruling that determined that blacks do not have the right to be citizens. Taney is buried near the church of which he was a member, St. John's. Since then, nine Catholic judges have served on the Supreme Court, and Roberts will apparently be the 10th.

The court in WashingtonRoberts, as noted, will not be the only Catholic on the current Supreme Court. On the bench beside him will be Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony M. Kennedy. And judging by their record, the question of religion is not necessarily pertinent where legal rulings are concerned. Kennedy is a liberal; in 1993 he voted in favor of the ruling (accepted by a majority of 5 to 4) that reaffirmed Roe vs. Wade, which allowed abortions in the United States. Twenty years earlier, when the ruling was first handed down, another Catholic, William Brennan, was serving on the court. Despite his religious affiliation, he also supported the majority opinion.

Scalia, at the conservative extreme of the court, caused a small ruckus when he came out with a statement against the Catholic Church. He supported the death penalty and in a public appearance stated that "any Catholic jurist who (for religious reasons) believes that capital punishment should be forbidden should resign".

Thus it was possible not only to expect, but also to understand, the attack on Senator Durbin and the question he asked Roberts. Republican Senator John Cronyn of Texas said that the question concerning faith "smacks of a religious test" for the appointment.

Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution provides that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust."

Questions on the InternetNevertheless, says Rabbi David Saperstein, there are questions that it is permissible to ask, even if they concern Roberts' religion. The Washington-based Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), which Saperstein heads, this week put up an Internet site called "Ask Judge Roberts." Its aim: to enable the Reform Jewish community, 1.5 million U.S. citizens, to present questions that need to be clarified during the appointment process.

By Tuesday of this week, 50 questions had come in. Saperstein assumes that as time goes by and word of the site gets out, many more questions will be asked. What are they asking? In first place questions on the nominee's position on issues of the separation of religion and state. In second place questions about Roe vs. Wade. In advance of the start of Roberts' confirmation hearing in September in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the questions will be sent to the committee members and to the press. Perhaps they will make use of them.

The Reform Movement does not yet have an official position on the question of the appointment, but Saperstein says that he is "deeply concerned" and an outside observer can conjecture which way the wind is blowing. In mid-September leaders of the movement will meet and issue a statement. It will be released, most probably, after the committee hearing has ended, but before the vote in the Senate plenum. In the past, Roberts has evinced very conservative positions on a large number of issues, which Saperstein says are contrary to those of the majority of the Jewish community. He is afraid that Roberts will vote in favor of decisions that will damage important civil rights the very rights that have enabled the Jewish community in America to flourish especially rulings on matters of religion and state.

The fact that Roberts is a Catholic neither adds nor detracts, says Saperstein. There are also Jews on the Supreme Court Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and there were five more in the past. Their number fluctuates. Saperstein certainly has no intention of questioning a candidate's religious affiliation. Nevertheless, according to him, one religious question that will be asked will be "fair" about the influence of Roberts' church's stand on abortions. The pope's stance as expressed in the past has been that any office-holder who votes in favor of abortion will be excommunicated. And as the church has decided to intervene in such a powerful way, it is appropriate to find out whether such intervention will indeed be influential.?

A surprise on Capitol HillThis week RAC's Saperstein published a statement in support of Republican Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Senate majority leader, a decided conservative. A surprise? Not really. The person who was surprising was in fact Frist. Last Friday, in an emotional speech, he announced that he would support an initiative to expand fetal stem-cell research. "It's not just a matter of faith," he said. "It's a matter of science." Flabbergasted leaders of groups on the religious right hastened to condemn their friend of yore, but he, a physician by profession, said that there is no alternative but to try to investigate this new chance for healing.

Cynics, and they abound here, immediately saw in his revised position a move toward the center in advance of the presidential race that is shaping up for 2008. Frist wants the center votes, but won't he lose the religious votes in the internal race in his party? A political candidate in America will find it very difficult to win if he does not have the appropriate faith"credit." And during one political week in August, as noted, it is very easy to discern that God is peering out from every corner, and is involved in every debate. "Are we ready for a Mormon president?" asked a columnist in The Boston Globe with reference to the bruited Republican presidential candidacy of Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are two Mormon governors in the United States in Massachusetts and, predictably enough, in Utah the same as the number of Jewish governors; there are five Mormon senators and 11 members of the House of Representatives. There has not yet been a president.

An appointment for IsraelPresident George W. Bush is a "born-again" Christian. He is strong opponent of increased support for fetal stem-cell research, which he has promised to veto. His most devoted supporters are Evangelical Christians. They are also devoted supporters of Israel. Their most outstanding liaison man is Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.

Eckstein himself does not need the State of Israel. He has made a big name for himself even without it, in spinning unprecedented connections with communities of Evangelical Christians in America. He raises a great deal of money from them, which he scatters generously among projects in Israel. On July 24, a page at the center of The New York Times Magazine was devoted to him. The relations between Israel and the Evangelicals are complex and controversial. On the one hand, they are enthusiastic supporters. On the other hand, there are those who suspect that their true aim is to bring the Jews to Israel to bring Armageddon closer after which the Messiah will come. Both sides agree that Eckstein is doing impressive work. Astounding, even.

And in the meantime, he is already galloping toward a new goal: Latin America. He wants to strengthen the connection there with the Evangelical community, as a counterweight to other communities that are less friendly toward Israel. And he was recently awarded official recognition from the country for which he works. Israel Foreign Ministry deputy director generals Nimrod Barkan and Dorit Shavit have announced that Eckstein is henceforth a good-will ambassador" to the Christian communities of Latin America on behalf of the State of Israel.

In a letter, the writers note Eckstein's "remarkable work" with "the Evangelical Christian communities in the United States." The State of Israel, the letter says, places "a great emphasis on the enhancement of ties with the Christian world, and also attaches considerable importance to relations with Evangelical communities." In the week when a tussle between Israel and the Vatican concerning condemnation of terror hit the headlines, there are those who believe that this appointment will add fuel to the fire of this relationship. "The Catholic Church might be deeply upset," says an expert observer of the appointment. The strengthening of the Evangelical streams in Latin America will, after, all come at the expense of someone else i.e., the Catholics.

But in such a religious world, it is hard to find anything bad without something good in it. And some of Eckstein's Christian friends in America are already saying that their community will be pleased that Israel, in its clumsy way, has at long last found a way to express its gratitude for years of unquestioning support.