Christopher Dunn’s thoughtful article, “The Pope, Invoking God and New York Courtrooms,” (NYLJ, Oct. 2), questioning the judicial system’s invocation of “God,” is more timely than he suggests. Not just the pope’s visit, but a recent rash of government employees and politicians citing religion and its government-intertwining as a basis for refusals to perform legal duties, makes imperative a serious reevaluation of judicial invocations of a deity.
In Kentucky, a county clerk has refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, citing religious objections. Her lawyers seek to legitimize her conduct by observing that she took office by swearing an oath “so help me God,” which she understands to mean “she would not act in contradiction to the moral law of God, natural law, or her sincerely held religious beliefs and convictions.”
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