Miers / White

[Scarberry, Mark]

To address a small part of Sandy's post:

 

"Pentecostal" is not a good description of Valley View Christian Church
(http://www.vvcc.org/ <http://www.vvcc.org/> ) in Dallas, of which, as I
understand it, Ms. Miers is a member. Instead, her church seems to be a part
of the Restoration (or Stone-Campbell) movement, the goal of which, as I
understand it, is to restore authentic first century Christian faith and
practice as revealed in the Christian scriptures. There are three groups of
churches (they would not call themselves "denominations") within that
movement: (1) the Churches of Christ (with which my university is
affiliated, although I am a member of a Presbyterian Church), (2) the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and (3) the Christian
Churches/Churches of Christ. It seems that Valley View Christian Church is
affiliated with one of those groups, inasmuch as its preaching minister
gives broadcast talks on a "Christian Churches and Churches of Christ"
program and is the past president of the Cincinnati Bible College and
Seminary (now part of the Cincinnati Christian University, I think), which
is affiliated with the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. See
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/the_christians_hour/
<http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/the_christians_hour/> ; The Encyclopedia
of the Stone-Campbell Movement (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004).

 

These churches generally do not emphasize the supernaturally manifested
gifts of the Holy Spirit -- like "speaking in tongues" -- that are
emphasized by Pentecostal churches. They come from a quite different
tradition.

 

On the general question of the relevance of the nominee's religious faith,
here is a comment that I made at Ann Althouse's excellent blog
(http://althouse.blogspot.com <http://althouse.blogspot.com/> ) in response
to one of her posts:

 

"For 25 years Ms. Miers has been a member of a non-hierarchical,
theologically conservative Christian church in Dallas. See
http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/ <http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/> . She
will understand deeply the concerns that people in such churches have about
judges who seek to remake the culture and who remove social issues from the
democratic process. Supreme Court nominees should neither be supported nor
opposed on the basis of their religion, but her religious background will
help her to understand why a majority of Americans (according to a recent
poll) are not happy with the judiciary. I think she is likely to bring a
refreshingly different perspective to the Court."

 

Caveat: I have no personal knowledge of Ms. Miers's church affiliation, but
am relying on the information from worldmagblog.

 

Mark S. Scarberry

Pepperdine University School of Law

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Sanford Levinson [mailto:SLevinson at law.utexas.edu] 
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 3:51 PM
To: CONLAWPROF at lists.ucla.edu
Subject: RE: Miers / White

 

 

[snip] 

 

Does anyone doubt, incidentally, that Bush regards it as a very strong

plus, as he looks into her "heart," that she is apparently a very strong

churchgoer (a Catholic convert to Pentacostal Protestantism,

apparently)?  Apropos the discussion about who has the last word, is it

not clear that this particular president is applying a religious test

for office that would be patently unconstitutional if it were

formalized?  So has George Bush in effect rendered irrelevant Article VI

and the No Test Oath Clause?  (Can anyone imagine Bush appointing anyone

who has no religious affiliation?)  When John Paul Stevens dies, will

anyone suggest that agnostics and athiests are entitled to a

replacement?  

 

[snip]

 

sandy  

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