I have put my hope
in your laws. (Psalm 119:43)
Psalm
119 came to mind as I heard of our Supreme Court’s decision to protect the
religious liberty of Catholic Social Services. The surprise was that it was a
nine to zero decision—unanimous. Our often divided court was undivided in its
interpretation and judgment of the first amendment: “Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof…” That’s the deal. No state church like England or Germany—the kind of
religious tyranny from which our forbearers fled. Instead, the state puts into
law the promise of religious freedom to worship as we choose.
Some
years ago, when Sam and Liz Walker led us on our first Washington D.C.
pilgrimage, we lingered in the Supreme Court Building. There was much to see. I
was taken by its simple and elegant beauty. This little temple of the
Constitution sits in the shadow of the capital—that mammoth, maybe even
pretentious, building that houses our legislature. The Supreme Court's
diminutive dignity reminded me how the Holy Spirit tends to be the shy member
of the Trinity; yet, without God the Spirit, God wouldn’t be God.
So
it is with our three branches of our government. Without this little guardian
and interpreter of our Constitution, America wouldn’t be America.
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