Supreme Court Stays Execution of Buddhist Inmate

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

By Adam Liptak
March 28, 2019

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the execution of a Buddhist inmate in Texas whose request that his spiritual adviser be present in the execution chamber had been denied.

In a brief, unsigned order, the court said that Texas may not execute the inmate, Patrick H. Murphy, “unless the state permits Murphy’s Buddhist spiritual adviser or another Buddhist reverend of the state’s choosing to accompany Murphy in the execution chamber during the execution.”

Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch said they would have allowed the execution to proceed.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote that the state’s policy of allowing only Christian and Muslim chaplains to attend executions amounted to unconstitutional religious discrimination. “The government may not discriminate against religion generally or against particular religious denominations,” he wrote.

-snip-


Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/us/politics/texas-execution-buddhist-inmate.html

[pangaia]

1. Fuck thomas and gorsuch

and BTW what's with the "Buddhist reverend?"


Jeeze !!!

[Lithos]

2. Grasping noises

n/t

[Berlin Expat]

4. There are in fact Buddhist Reverends......

if they're from the Buddhist Churches of America, which is the American branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, the most widely-practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan and a school of Pure Land Buddhism; if you meet a Japanese Buddhist, there's a good possibility they're Shin Buddhist.

http://www.buddhistchurchesofamerica.org/bca-history/

Many, many years ago, I lived in the Portland, OR area and was a member of Oregon Buddhist Temple. The leader of that congregation had the title of Reverend. The current Reverend is Reverend Yuki Sugahara.

https://www.oregonbuddhisttemple.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Ddo_Shinsh%C5%AB

[pangaia]

5. Thanks. I learned something today.

[Berlin Expat]

6. My pleasure.....

Jodo Shinshu isn't too well-known in the United States (or indeed, in the West, where the focus is more on Zen Buddhism or Tibetan Buddhism), though I've read that it's slowly expanding. For a long time, it was pretty much exclusively a "Japanese thing" but now, it's starting to move into the wider American mainstream.

[pangaia]

10. And I was just in Japan again last week....

[BlueFlorida]

8. A majority of Buddhists

are Theravada Buddhists and they have monks, not priests or ministers.

[Demonaut]

3. gorsuch is stupid and thomas lacks the will for critical thinking

[rpannier]

7. If I read the OP correctly, it means Rabbis are excluded

I'm surprised this hasn't been challenged as discriminatory on general grounds
But, I guess, unless Texas executes a Jewish person who requests a Rabbi, they may not have standing until it's an actual issue

[RVN VET71]

9. I agree with Kavanaugh's opinion

Either allow all religions or no religion.

If Texas lawmakers can't get that through their soporific, shallow brains, they should take a course in the U.S. Constitution, one which explains that it's a separate document from the Baptist creed and the bible that spawned it.

This is so obvious to me that I was surprised that Thomas disagreed. Gorsuch is a pure-bred douche, so no surprise there.

Does my agreement with Kavanaugh mean I should take a shower? Or is this a case of even a broken clock (Kavanaugh) being right twice a day?