Tuesday, March 15, 2011

New York Trial Judge Orders / Warns Against False Catholic Teaching

A very interesting court case out of New York is being discussed over at The Volokh Conspiracy

See Judge Warns Factfinders: Be Alert to “Groups or Persons Improperly Contesting the Authority of ... the Catholic Church’s Official Position or Its Doctrines”

I agree we are in all sort of murky waters here. However I do agree with the comments that it appears the Judge had come to the conclusion that the person here was an "Orthodox" Catholic and thus it was relevant to look into what "orthodox" Catholic doctrine was in this matter.

As this comment said:

James K says:
I read only the first few paragraphs of this case but it seems plain to me that the judge recognized that Mrs Zornow was a devout Catholic and she had uniformly followed the Church’s teachings throughout her life. The judge went on to ascertain those teachings and apply them to her as he believed she would have done if she could have spoken for herself.

Notwithstanding Prof Volokh’s selective comments regarding the expansive language that the judge used, there seems to be little indication that it is being applied to someone who was not 100% “with the program” (i.e., the Church’s teachings). In that regard, it is nothing like the Orthodox kosher case
.

Also see this comment.

Anyway this is an interesting case.

ON A SIDE NOTE- To all these States that are passing these you cannot follow "consult foreign law" Amendments. If New York had one of these could the Judge have done what he did? The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is cited quite a big deal.

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