Pope Francis Met Kim Davis In DC... In Secret

Only today was that fact acknowledged by the Vatican... and the Catholic Church's history of doing bad things in secret is too long and too egregious to assume anything other than that they, and probably Kim Davis, have something to hide in this case, not sexual in nature but nonetheless abusive of the goodwill of the Pope's American hosts. And to think I was just about to have some positive feelings toward the Church... what folly on my part. Sigh!

"... however, we will listen to Kim Davis,
but only in complete secrecy..."

Pope Francis Is Wrong About Kim Davis

In an AP article about a wide range of subjects covered in an interview of Pope Francis conducted on the papal airplane, the Pope, who more or less admitted not knowing the particulars of the case, sided with Davis, saying she had a right of conscience to refuse to issue marriage licenses to LGBT same-sex couples:

...

In another issue pressing on the American church, Francis was asked about the case of Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk jailed for several days after she refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples despite the Supreme Court's ruling making same-sex marriage legal nationwide. Davis said such marriages violate her Apostolic Christian faith.

Francis said he didn't know the case in detail, but he upheld conscience objection as a human right.

"It is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right," Francis said.

...

I'm sorry, but the Pope is mistaken. It happens to every human person, especially when that person is shooting from the hip based on incomplete knowledge, and that's exactly what the Pope did in this case.

The freedom of religion conferred on American citizens by the First Amendment to the US Constitution is a freedom of belief, and that freedom is, quite rightly, very nearly absolute.

But any associated freedom of action is, necessarily, limited by ordinary secular law and common law. If that were not so, what possible effectiveness could any law have on the undesirable activity it was intended to control? If all of us could summarily rewrite or reinterpret any law in our minds and then act on that reinterpretation, the result could be, and probably would be, chaos in society.

The Pope also mistakes what it means to be a conscientious objector. America's history of conscientious objection, to war, to legally enshrined racial injustice, etc., requires that the objector be willing either to step back from the confrontation... in Davis's case, resign from her job in which her nonfeasance is illegal... or to go to jail for the illegal behavior s/he commits in the process of objection. That is the means by which an ordinary American citizen can have an impact on a law which the courts have declined to rule unconstitutional.

(ADDED: The issues in which exceptions have been carved out in law for religious conscientious objection have resulted in IMHO grossly unfair treatment of individuals whose only substantive difference is what they say they believe. A good friend of mine from middle school through college was a member of a religion which the US government recognized as having a conscientious objection to war. While most Unitarian Universalists I know object on principle to war, and I certainly did and do, there is no broad objection enshrined in the religion itself; it is left as a matter of conscience to the individual UU. As a result, my friend had an automatic draft exemption, while I was subject to the draft. I do not begrudge him his exemption, but I certainly begrudged my non-exemption. I later obtained a deferment for my left knee, wrecked in an accident when I was 13 and still troublesome to this day; eventually that deferment was commuted to an exemption. Sigh!)

In other words, the conscientious objector can, in fact, be a law unto herself or himself... but only at a price, and that price is to accept the punishment society's law imposes on him or her. It's the only way conscientious objection could possibly work without leading to unlimited lawlessness.

Davis clearly doesn't understand that (or, in my opinion, just wants to make trouble). But there is no excuse for the Pope; he should educate himself on the workings of such a fundamental principle as conscientious objection.

Boehner To Resign From Congress By End Of October

The Pope Speaks — The Speaker Weeps

Basics available from Laura Clawson at Kos, though I heard the news first on ABC. Here's the statement from Boehner's office via Clawson:

Speaker Boehner believes that the first job of any Speaker is to protect this institution and, as we saw yesterday with the Holy Father, it is the one thing that unites and inspires us all. 

The Speaker's plan was to serve only through the end of last year. Leader Cantor's loss in his primary changed that calculation.

The Speaker believes putting members through prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution.

He is proud of what this majority has accomplished, and his Speakership, but for the good of the Republican Conference and the institution, he will resign the Speakership and his seat in Congress, effective October 30.

(Jeez, I thought when they said "the institution" they meant the Republican Conference. You mean the jokers actually acknowledge there are others in Congress than their own arrogant selfies selves?)

There's no love wasted on Boehner at Our House, but to the extent that his resignation makes another government shutdown more likely, or Obama's last year more difficult, I regret Boehner's sudden departure. Maybe it wasn't just the Pope's speech that left him in tears...

Morning Misc.

• Charles Davis at The Intercept: UNDER THE BRIDGE: The Crime of Living Without a Home in Los Angeles
• Ian Reifowitz at Kos: STUNNER from Pope: Church Should Stop Being "Obsessed" with Abortion, Gay marriage and Contraception
• Leslie Salzillo at Kos: New Study Ranks 50 States By Gun Sense And Gun Deaths -- Gun Extremists Arrive in 5-4-3-2-1
• Violence Policy Center (VPC): State Firearm Death Rates, Ranked by Rate, 2011 [NOTE: no, Texas is not even in the top half among states. Put that in your pipe and... uh... dump it out of your pipe; please don't smoke it! - SB]

And one for fellow Texans...

• Texas Secretary of State: Important 2015 Election Dates

ADDENDUM: "We have to find a new balance," the Pope is quoted as saying. I am sorry to hear the Pope has lost one of his athletic shoes... <grin_duck_run />

Naomi Klein Speaks To Meeting In Vatican Re: Climate Change

Here. Scroll down to the middle of the page for a video of a meeting on July 1 among five people convened by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, or watch the same video on YouTube. Klein's main presentation starts at around 39:25 into the video. Most of the council members speak Italian; Klein's presentation and occasional comments are in English.

It is good to see that the Catholic Church recognizes its considerable responsibility to communicate with people of all faiths (or no faith at all) on the matter of climate change. Either everybody starts talking to everybody else, or humankind may well not survive. Yes, it's that important.

Too Symbolic Of Our Times

Two children, standing next to Pope Francis in a window of the Apostolic Palace, release two doves as tens of thousands of people watch from St. Peter's Square. What happens next is not exactly a symbol of peace in our time...