Sunday Thoughts: People of Praise: Do We Know Enough about Amy Coney Barrett?

In a country of over 325 million people we are faced with the nomination of a person to be one of nine people who will interpret the laws of the United States who belongs to a group of about two thousand  people called the “People of Praise.”

It is not so much that she belongs to that group that had me wondering about her it is that as far as I can tell she hid her membership in it when she was before the United States Senate in 2018 when she was being questioned about a position on the Court of Appeals, the second highest federal court in the land. That article quoted M. Cathleen Kaveny, a professor at Boston College Law School who studies the relationship between law, religion and morality who said:  “I’m concerned that this was not sufficiently transparent. We have to disclose everything from the Elks Club to the alumni associations we belong to — why didn’t she disclose this?”

Not only did she hide her membership there, it is reported: “In recent years, it removed from its website editions of a People of Praise magazine — first those that included her name and photograph and then all archives of the magazine itself.” there have been reports that the People of Praise tried to erase any traces of her membership. There has even been a refusal by the group to tell whether or not she is a member when clearly she is one.

Why?

What is the People of Praise? Its small membership is reminiscent of the People’s Temple which eventually ended up in Jonestown, Guyana, which had as a leader Jim Jones who led his people in a mass suicide where over 900 died.  Although it seems to be far from that as best we can tell at the moment, it is important to understand the nature of the group to which she belongs.

I say that because she may not be a free agent. She may be directed by the leaders in her group to decide issues in a certain way not based upon the laws of the country but upon the whims of her leaders. Despite disclaimers that will happen, it is important to assure oneself that it cannot happen.

I suppose we must try to determine what is the “People of Praise?” It appears to be a group of individuals who possess the same beliefs which are the man is the head of the household and the woman’s purpose is to serve the man. The leadership of the group is male. The women, at one time referred to as handmaids, have their own group but it is subject to the male leaders directions.

The first thing to do I figured was to try to separate the chaff from the wheat. I went to its site on the internet. It tells us it is: “a charismatic Christian community. We admire the first Christians who were led by the Holy Spirit to form a community. Those early believers put their lives and their possessions in common, and “there were no needy persons among them.”  While supposedly embracing all major forms of Christianity it is mostly a Roman Catholic group having among its membership priests and endorsements by bishops. It should not be surprising then that the male leadership is the model of the group because the Roman Catholic Church is a male leadership organization that makes the rules for others.

Exploring her membership in this group will be exploited by Republicans who will tell us that we are intruding into her religious beliefs in discussing this. That is not so; it is not her membership in a religious group that will be questioned but her beliefs in how that membership will affect her decisions. Will she really be a free agent or will she be guided by some unknown hand telling her how to act?

Will she decide laws based on her “charismatic Christian” beliefs as seems to me must be necessary and if she does is that bad? As I see it lifting the curtain and only having the slightest peek at the “People of  Praise” it is a group of white Christian people who want to live in such a way that resembles the manner in which the monks lived sharing goods among themselves, celebrating their beliefs peacefully, attempting to do some good in the world helping others, and being organized, as many religious groups are, with a male leadership that directs the actions of others who freely accept the rules.

I believe Amy Comey Barrett will take her Christian charismatic beliefs with her in deciding the future of the laws in America. I do not see anything pernicious about them. But as I said, I only have had a slight look at her group. I would like to know more about it. I would like to know if she understands the diversity of America and what is good for a group of 2,000 people may not translate into being good for all Americans.

 

 

8 Comments

  1. Wa-llahi! Again, affirmative. Perot, you are so perceptive. I support both BLM and Antifa. They are fine folks with a very important mission. Death to Fascism. Down with Trump. All praise to the fighters. All power to the dialectic.

    It won’t be long, now, until, Trump openly declares his dictatorship. Get yourself a gun, Perot. I’ll see you on the barricades.

  2. She’s has testified she would not apply her religious beliefs to decisions but will rely only on the law. The same people who seem to claim she is too religious seem worried she will not keep an oath.

  3. Oh gosh…..

    News and nouns at midnight….

    https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/brooklyn-judge-fbi-agent-aided-mob-hits-article-1.2488378

    EXCLUSIVE: Brooklyn judge says former FBI agent aided in mob hits

    By JOHN MARZULLI
    NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
    JAN 07, 2016 AT 4:00 AM

    Also see

    We brought FBI agent William Turner to speak
    at the Univsity of Maine in Farmington Maine
    2002

    William Turner, Bay Area FBI agent who criticized J. Edgar Hoover, dies at 88

    The Marin Independent Journal
    Posted: 01/06/2016 11:25:06 AM PST

    01/06/2016 11:25:59 AM PST
    William Weyand Turner of San Rafael, a former FBI agent who wrote books critical of J. Edgar Hoover, died Dec. 26 after a long struggle with Parkinson s
    William Weyand Turner of San Rafael, a former FBI agent who wrote books critical of J. Edgar Hoover, died Dec. 26 after a long struggle with Parkinson s disease. Marin IJ archive photo

    William Weyand Turner of San Rafael, a former FBI agent who wrote books critical of J. Edgar Hoover and became a senior editor of the “New Left” literary and political magazine Ramparts, died Dec. 26 after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 88.

    Mr. Turner worked as an FBI special agent for 10 years until Hoover fired him in 1961 for testifying before Congress, calling for an investigation into the bureau’s extensive wiretapping.

    As an agent, he testified, he made hundreds of wiretaps on telephones and frequently broke into homes and businesses to plant hidden microphones in what were called “black bag” operations.

    In his 1970 book “Hoover’s FBI,” Mr. Turner alleged that the FBI under Hoover had a misplaced focus on the so-called communist menace and was reluctant to prosecute organized crime.

    “For nearly four decades, he (Hoover) stuck his head in the sand while the crime syndicates waxed fat,” he wrote.

    https://trialanderrordennis.org/index.php/retrial/federal-agent-jim-moore/official-misconduct

    We brought Jim Moore to speak at Bates College

    Another speaker on the program was Hoppy Heidelberg

    Official Misconduct
    REPORT OF OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT
    Submitted to the State of Maine by retired federal agent James P. Moore

    Jim Moore retired from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as ATF’s agent-in-charge for Maine and New Hampshire. His career included two years with the Federal Organized Crime & Racketeering Strike Force and two years with INTERPOL where he directed international investigations of robbery, rape, murder and terrorism. Moore had developed a high regard for Maine law enforcement, so when charges surfaced that Dennis Dechaine had been wrongfully convicted for the 1988 murder of Sarah Cherry, he decided to see for himself. At that time, Moore regarded Dechaine’s supporters “as a bunch of bird brains out to trash law enforcement.” However, while conducting an independent investigation at his own expense, Moore concluded that Dechaine indeed had been wrongfully convicted. He has since written two books on the case, Human Sacrifice and State Secrets, all proceeds of which are donated to securing a retrial for Dechaine.

    In October, 2004, Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe responded to Moore’s allegations of misconduct by state officials during the investigation and prosecution of Dechaine by appointing a panel of three private lawyers to “investigate” the allegations. Two years later, the panel reported there was no evidence of misconduct. They did not submit any information or evidence supporting that conclusion or disputing any of the documented evidence in a formal report submitted by Moore. The panel refused a Freedom of Access Request for the records of their “investigation” and fought all the way to the Supreme Court of the State of Maine to avoid disclosing record, fact or information which might support their conclusion regarding the documented evidence presented in the report. The Supreme Court’s 3-2 decision upheld the lawyers’ position that they did not have to comply with the state’s Freedom of Access Act. Moore’s Report appears below, followed by a Maine Law Review article about the Supreme Court’s ruling.

    Here is Jim Moore’s report to the Attorney General alleging the misconduct…

    An article in the Maine Law Review concluded:

    “Ultimately, in Moore, the Law Court rendered a decision that restricts access to records of an entity performing an independent review of a law enforcement investigation and prosecution. The majority, by applying a narrow

    https://www.bates.edu/news/2000/01/05/conference-on-crimes/

    Conference on crimes connected to the government to be held at Bates

    By Bates News. Published on January 5, 2000

    The 11th annual Maine Conference Investigating Crimes Committed by the FBI by will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 15, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

    The conference, sponsored by Maine Citizens to Defend the Bill of Rights and the New World Coalition, a student organization at Bates, features a talk by Raymond Kohlman, an attorney who in December 1999 successfully represented the family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a lawsuit claiming the civil rights leader was the victim of a vast murder conspiracy, not a lone assassin. The King family had sued Loyd Jowers, a retired businessman who claimed six years ago that he paid someone other than James Earl Ray to kill King in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968. Kohlman claimed the FBI, CIA, the Mafia and the U.S. military were involved in the assassination.

    The conference also features a talk by Hoppy Heidelberg, a member of the Oklahoma City bombing grand jury who believes the FBI was involved in the destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Heidelberg, a Reform Party gubernatorial candidate in Oklahoma, also is a member of Oklahomans for Truth, a group that recently took depositions from an FBI informant who testified to the FBI’s involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing.

    Indictment – Inside the Oklahoma City Grand Jury – The Hoppy Heidelberg Story

  4. Matt
    “ you are only as high as the people
    you hang out with. They can only take you to where their
    consciousness is. “ Steve Flemmi Hillbilly Ranch 1970

    https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/538644.Cloak_and_Gavel

    Cloak and Gavel: FBI Wiretaps, Bugs, Informers, and the Supreme Court
    by Alexander Charns, Alexander Charnes

    The separation of powers becomes a meaningless cliche as Alexander Charns – using the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s own files – reveals how that agency undermined the independence of the U.S. Supreme Court for a half-century. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover’s goal was simple: to push the Supreme Court to the right on issues of civil rights and criminal law. His techniques ranged from illegal wiretapping to spreading disinformation, from using Justice Abe Fortas as an informant to trying to hound liberal Justice William O. Douglas off the bench. Cloak and Gavel, the definitive work on the FBI-Supreme Court relationship, is based on thousands of pages of FBI documents that Charns fought for eight years to obtain. One 2,000-page file was released only after he filed hundreds of Freedom of Information requests and brought lawsuits against the FBI. It establishes Hoover’s strategies to influence the Senate confirmation process, incite the public against the Warren court, lobby for legislation to counteract judicial rulings, and use numerous informants inside the Court to both monitor and influence it. Charns was given special permission to conduct research using Justice Abe Fortas’s papers, which had been sealed until the year 2000. These papers proved Fortas had acted as an informer for the White House and for the FBI during his tenure on the bench. Fortas ultimately left the Court in disgrace after an ethics scandal unrelated to his informant role. Charns also suggests that Hoover’s death did not end the FBI’s attempts to influence Congress and the federal judiciary – as evidenced by the role of the FBI in the explosive Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill Senate hearings in 1991. Until now, no one has examined the ultimate constitutional violation – the FBI’s attempts to influence the Court by any means available.

    https://www.worldcat.org/title/alexander-charns-papers-1930s-1990s/oclc/38525517

    Alexander Charns papers, 1930s-1990s.

    Author: Alexander Charns
    Edition/Format: Archival material : English
    Summary:
    Photocopies of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files concerning the relationship between the United States Supreme Court and the FBI. Included are files on individual United States Supreme Court justices; circuit courts; government officials; the American Bar Association; wiretapping; protests and local politics; and the Jencks decision, which relates to testimony by government officials.
    Rating:
    (not yet rated) 0 with reviews – Be the first.
    Subjects
    American Bar Association.
    Charns, Alexander, — 1956-
    Civil rights demonstrations — North Carolina.

    In other newes…..

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/10/people-of-praise-amy-coney-barrett-faith-group

    ‘It instilled such problems’: ex-member of Amy Coney Barrett’s faith group speaks out

    General Ben Partin Speaks About Oklahoma City and Waco

  5. People’s Temple? You are a kook.

    • Let me guess, this writer also supports Antifa & BLM?

      • wa-llahi! Yes, we’re living in a super expanded People’s Temple, and, Trump is Jim Jones to his brain-dead followers. I’m hoping that Glorious Leader chugs down a super-size Covid Kool-Aid on TV, so, we can all see his immunity to disease kick in.

    • wa-llahi! Yes, we’re living in a super expanded People’s Temple, and, Trump is Jim Jones to his brain-dead followers. I’m hoping that Glorious Leader chugs down a super-size Covid Kool-Aid on TV, so, we can all see his immunity to disease kick in.