NYT (on Miers): "In Midcareer, a Turn to Faith to Fill a Void"

[Rose Siding]

DALLAS, Oct. 4 - By 1979, Harriet E. Miers, then in her mid-30's, had accomplished what some people take a lifetime to achieve. She was a partner at Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely, one of the most prestigious law firms in the South, with an office on the 35th floor of the Republic National Bank Tower in downtown Dallas.

But she still felt something was missing in her life, and it was after a series of long discussions - rambling conversations about family and religion and other matters that typically stretched from early evening into the night - with Nathan L. Hecht, a junior colleague at the law firm, that she made a decision that many of the people around her say changed her life.

"She decided that she wanted faith to be a bigger part of her life," Justice Hecht, who now serves on the Texas Supreme Court, said in an interview. "One evening she called me to her office and said she was ready to make a commitment" to accept Jesus Christ as her savior and be born again, he said. He walked down the hallway from his office to hers, and there amid the legal briefs and court papers, Ms. Miers and Justice Hecht "prayed and talked," he said.
....
It was a pivotal personal transformation for the woman now named for a seat on the United States Supreme Court, not entirely unlike that experienced by President Bush and others in the Texas political and business establishment of that time. Ms. Miers, born Roman Catholic, became an evangelical Christian and began identifying more with Republicans than with the Democrats who had long held sway over Texas politics. She joined the missions committee of her church, which is against legalized abortion, and friends and colleagues say she rarely looked back at her past as a Democrat....

http://nytimes.com/2005/10/05/politics/politicsspecial1/05miers.html?hp&ex=1128484800&en=572c2c837182ce54&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[linazelle]

1. Is she a SCOTUS nominee or a papal nominee? I'm confused.

:eyes:

[Rose Siding]

4. I didn't even know the NYT had a "Religious Background" section

[Erika]

6. She wants to be an Evangelical theocratic nominee

Mostly protestant. She left the Catholics and joined the evangelical extremists. She's a Texan evangelical crony of W who thinks W is the most brilliant man in the world.

I've read many articles on W having an inferiority complex. This nomination cements that.

[Erika]

2. She wants to become a theocratic SC judge

Implementing her interpretation of the law on our society. She's kind of twisted. She thinks W is brilliant? Why does W attract women who have never had a husband or children? Very odd.

[Rose Siding]

5. She's recommended by the 700 Club

as the "first evangelical Protestant on the court since the 1930's."

A SC Justice lauded by the 700 Club...Interesting times.

[Erika]

7. and recommended by the very sick James Dobson

Bush is looking for theocracy on the bench.

[jobycom]

3. And at what point did she rededicate her life to evil, death and treason?

[rodeodance]

8. some news caster said today She became a Christian. What does

that make a Catholic? (her previous Religion). Or was there a gap?

[Erika]

10. At the age of 35

I think she faced the fact that she was going into a pre menopause stage, and she had no husband nor children. So she chose an alternative dedication.

[Rose Siding]

9. The Post's version is even more concrete about her views on abortion

One evening in the 1980s, several years after Harriet Miers dedicated her life to Jesus Christ, she attended a lecture at her Dallas evangelical church with Nathan Hecht, a colleague at her law firm and her on-and-off boyfriend. The speaker was Paul Brand, a surgeon and the author of "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made," a best-selling exploration of God and the human body.

When the lecture was over, Miers said words Hecht had never heard from her before. "I'm convinced that life begins at conception," Hecht recalled her saying. According to Hecht, now a Texas Supreme Court justice, Miers has believed ever since that abortion is "taking a life."

"I know she is pro-life," said Hecht, one of the most conservative judges in Texas. "She thinks that after conception, it's not a balancing act -- or if it is, it's a balancing of two equal lives."

Hecht and other confidants of Miers all pledge that if the Senate confirms her nomination to the Supreme Court, her judicial values will be guided by the law and the Constitution. But they say her personal values have been shaped by her abiding faith in Jesus, and by her membership in the massive red-brick Valley View Christian Church, where she was baptized as an adult, served on the missions committee and taught religious classes. At Valley View, pastors preach that abortion is murder, that the Bible is the literal word of God and that homosexuality is a sin -- although they also preach that God loves everybody.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/04/AR2005100401765.html

[Erika]

12. And Reid wants to approve this person?

They better be asking women voters what they think about it. I won't donate to any candidate/party who votes for a nominee who is against the rights of a woman to choose based on her personal religious beliefs.

[bpilgrim]

11. People like to OPINE! ----------- ------------ ----------- > MP3

http://news.globalfreepress.com/mp3/aar/mm/bush-Harriet%20Miers-aar-mm.mp3

rofl - Bush Quotes on the issue, surtesy -> AAR/MM

psst... pass the word ;->

peace

[Charlie Brown]

13. I'm not predisposed against someone b/c of their relgious beliefs

and just because someone is personally opposed to abortion (like many Dems) says nothing about their views on Roe and the right to choose.

This factor is not a valid reason to oppose Miers.

[Art_from_Ark]

14. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! This is totally irrelevant to the office

Article VI, Section III of the Constitution:

"No religious test shall ever be required, as a qualification to any office or public trust, under the United States."

[Charlie Brown]

15. Thank you

It's very disconcerting to see posters at DU become the right-wing sterotype of anti-religious God-haters.

Judge Miers by her judicial views and professional career and not her religious beliefs.

[AndyTiedye]

18. If We Are to Judge Her on That, They Need to Let Us See That

Judge Miers by her judicial views and professional career and not her religious beliefs.

She has no judicial views expressed in court decisions, because she has never been a judge.
We also criticize her for her lack of judicial experience, of course.
We don't get to see much of her recent professional career, because the administration has invoked "executive privilege".

What we can see of her professional career includes trying to get the ABA to rescind its support for Roe v. Wade.
You will have to pardon us if this runs up a bit of a red flag,
particularly given her stated religious views.

To criticize a potential Supreme Court Justice on these grounds is not "god-hating".
We are trying to protect our pluralistic society, for the good of people of all religions and no religion.

[wellstone_democrat]

16. Funny how many "double" conversions in Texas in the mid 80s

eh? As Reagan courted the evangelical right and the "southern strategy" entered its highest phase of sucess, Democrats in Texas and other points south (in public life) saw the future: and climbed on board by becoming Republicans and joining churches whose primary statement of faith was "born again" as the overriding doctrine. None of these people "looked back" because they saw where the opportunities were.

But, of course, to suggest that is "bad" or "mean spirited" but isn't it funny that so many in contemporary Republican politics found Jesus and Lee Atwater at about the same time? hmmm...

[KittyWampus]

17. translation- she no longer wanted to pursue independant thought and

decided to whore herself out to the alpha dogs around her.

These Wingnut women are filled with self loathing.