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Dr. Gary W. Buffington's avatar

In fairness, Paul, there is more here than I can unpack at the moment. That we have a minor disagreement over the so-called line of separation between freedom of religion and the obligations of a constitutional republic puts us in the mainstream of the American populace.

As to what I understand to be your point that the Federal government is supreme over the States that supremacy exists only in a few select and delineated powers. All other powers are the purview of the individual States or to the People as per the Tenth Amendment.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states,, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

When the Supreme Court correctly overturned Roe v Wade the justices did not ban abortion nationwide, they merely returned the issue to the individual States where it belonged in the first place per the 10th Amendment. Based on her published remarks prior to her death even as progressive a jurist as Ruth Bader Ginsburg would have most probably agreed with the majority.

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Dr. Gary W. Buffington's avatar

You raise an interesting question/concept. To what degree does one's religious beliefs/doctrines influence one's world view and decision-making process? My position is that religious beliefs should influence one's decision-making otherwise that religion is irrelevant and has no intrinsic value to the individual.

One has to exercise due caution in criticizing the religious beliefs of government officials otherwise one risks running afoul of Article VI of the Constitution which says in part "...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

Numerous SCOTUS rulings (with many pre-dating the Court's current composition) have sided with churches and religious bodies in resolving conflicts over alleged civil rights violations.

The usual conflict occurs at the intersection of the "Free Exercise" clause and the "Establishment" clause of the First Amendment. This website gives a summary of the various SCOTUS rulings on these issues::

https://supreme.justia.com/cases-by-topic/religion/

The most recent ruling involved a postal worker, Gerald Groff, and the USPS with the Court ruling in favor of Mr. Groff by a unanimous 9-0 margin.

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