Antonin Scalia: Cross is Symbol of All Religions

[Stingo]

Christians do not get a special claim on the cross as the symbol of Christ having been crucified for our sins, not if Antonin Scalia’s interpretation has any bearing. Scalia claimed in the Supreme Court that the cross is not a special symbol to honor Christian dead, but to honor all dead. Muslims and Jews likely agree that Scalia is a whackjob.

http://allspinzone.com/wp/2009/10/08/antonin-scalia-cross-is-symbol-of-all-religions/

[ixion]

1. The depth of human ignorance (hubris?) never ceases to amaze me

that is a ridiculous statement that reflects (or maliciously implies) a total ignorance for the various religions of the world.

[cognoscere]

16. Fat Tony's belief

that an innocent person who is found guilty has somehow had a full and fair trial, clearly demonstrates that the man is seriously fucked up in the head. That such a grossly mental incompetent is on the "Supreme Court" demonstrates how fucked up our government is.

[Demeter]

23. Tony's a Catholic, Ignorance Is His Creed

all good Catholics MUST be ignorant. Otherwise, they are no good to the Church or the Unholiness.

[saltpoint]

2. Chronologically, Antinuous was one of the last gods to be worshipped in the

cascade of gods and goddesses out there.

Let's put a statue of Antinuous in Scalia's church and see how he likes it.

[aquart]

3. Is he being checked for Alzheimer's?

[Stingo]

13. That was my first thought this morning

My wife talked me down.

[aquart]

32. Or teeny tiny TIAs?

[ejpoeta]

4. he's assuming that 'all' religions are christian ones. I can't stand when people think like this.

They think THEIR religion is the religion and all the rest are not. Makes me sick. The cross is the symbol of JESUS being put on a CROSS... so of course it is a christian symbol. Idiots!!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. "Think" is probably the wrong choice of word here.

[badgerpup]

29. Well...he does have a point...sorta...

...and I don't mean just the one on top of his head.

Christianity, when it first started out, had a distressing habit of swallowing any other religions with which it came into contact, bending and shaping their myths and deities into the Christian pantheon.

Not going to go into detail, but quite a few of the saints have had a Christian paintjob in order to conceal their 'pagan' background.

[Enthusiast]

43. This proves he is

unfit to be a supreme court justice.

[bigbrother05]

5. So why does Arlington use different symbols on headstones?

If it's all the same, why was there such a stink over the Wiccan symbol a few months back. Surely there is no need for all those six-pointed stars cluttering up a national monument.

:sarcasm: (for those that just have to have a "proper" symbol)

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. it was all a mistake. Give Scalia a chance to fix it, and he will

by banning all those other faux symbols.

[drm604]

6. This illustrates the mindset of people like Scalia.

Their symbols, their culture, are the norm - sort of the base assumption. Anything else is simply a variation from that norm.

This kind of thinking should not be present in any of our courts, let alone the highest court in the land.

[Recursion]

7. strictly, it's an international cartographical symbol for any religious site

But yeah, he's a moron.

[Warren Stupidity]

10. Not stupidity: arrogant contempt. nt.

[DrZeeLit]

11. Ah... he's been reading Dan Brown's new book, hasn't he. How charming......

Court decisions based on popular culture.

What will they think of next?

[Kahuna]

12. scalia is a menace. That is all. nt

[freethought]

14. Of all Religons?

What if you're an atheist? Or and agnostic?

What's the symbol for those Antonin?

[Stingo]

15. That one is a circle, I think

[Sam1]

17. Scalia is a great illustration of what Harry G. Frankfurt calls

a bullshitter. He has the "Truth" and will make statements in support with out concern for "truth." The only consideration is to advance the "Truth".

What I think many have missed is the implication, which he is advancing, that the cross is how a Christian county honors its dead. Scalia is not a wackjob, and you under-estimate him with such a label.

[RaleighNCDUer]

18. Are there Catholic Dominionists?

I thought Dominionism was a purely protestant malady.

[Sam1]

35. I don't think it is dominionism as much as it is the belief that the

Catholic Church is the one true Church presided over by the Vicar of Christ.

[smoogatz]

22. He's a fascist.

A fascist is not a reasonable thing to be, obviously. Therefore he's a whack-job.

[Sam1]

33. Given his defense of the 5th and 6th amendments he is a strange

kind of fascist. He is not one to be demonized and underestimated. Sotomayor(likely as not misspelled) may turnout to be a good a counter balance as we can get.

[Enthusiast]

44. Yup. nt

[kleec]

19. .

Scalia is the height of arrogance and ignorance.

[benld74]

20. BS! I CALL BS Scalia you douche bag!

[Stingo]

30. DoucheBecKKKK

[smoogatz]

21. Antonin Scalia is a symbol for all fascist douchebags.

Fascist douchebags of every race and denomination recognize Scalia as an emblem for broad-based idiocy of all kinds.

[Dollface]

25. I'm not sure who should be more insulted, fascists or douchebags.

[smoogatz]

26. Douchebags.

Fascists in this country don't know what the word "fascist" means, so they can't be insulted by it.

[Dollface]

28. Excellent point

[Enthusiast]

45. LMAO! nt

[pokerfan]

24. PZ Myers

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/10/supreme_court_justice_scalia_i.php">Supreme Court Justice Scalia is a supremely clueless jerk

This exchange with Scalia is simply stunning: the man is an incompetent ideologue who I wouldn't trust to rule on a parking ticket. Can we have him impeached? Here's how he reacted when told that non-Christians might object a teeny-tiny bit to having their dead memorialized with a gigantic Christian symbol.

"The cross doesn't honor non-Christians who fought in the war?" Scalia asks, stunned.

"A cross is the predominant symbol of Christianity, and it signifies that Jesus is the son of God and died to redeem mankind for our sins," replies Eliasberg, whose father and grandfather are both Jewish war veterans.

"It's erected as a war memorial!" replies Scalia. "I assume it is erected in honor of all of the war dead. The cross is the most common symbol of … of … of the resting place of the dead."

Eliasberg dares to correct him: "The cross is the most common symbol of the resting place of Christians. I have been in Jewish cemeteries. There is never a cross on a tombstone of a Jew."

"I don't think you can leap from that to the conclusion that the only war dead the cross honors are the Christian war dead," thunders Scalia. "I think that's an outrageous conclusion!"

Far less outrageous is the conclusion that religious symbols are not religious.

[unblock]

27. as usual, scalia forms his conclusion first and searches for suitable fig leaf rationale later

it's obvious how he'll vote, and it's almost as obvious that he doesn't have an intellectual leg to stand on.
hence his frustration, evident in calling a logical argument not merely faulty, but "outrageous".

i wonder if a predominantly jewish town, say, skokie, illinois, were to erect a star of david and call it a "war monument" and claim it was honoring all war dead, not just jewish ones, and some christians complained, i wonder if scalia would reach the same conclusion.

actually, no, i don't wonder. i don't wonder at all.

[Sam1]

34. Pretty much the definition of a bullshitter

[winyanstaz]

31. As a Pagan I have to agree with a little bit of that...as.......

The Pagans used a cross with a short "stem" called a 4-directions..to carry it in parades a longer handle was added on the bottom.
This was the norm long before Christians stole the pagan cross...just as they stole the holidays. (such as Easter/Ester/Ostara..where the pagans gave decorated eggs as symbols of fertility and Christmas/Yule/...where the pagans brought in an evergreen tree and placed lights/candles on the tree and gave gifts.)
You see..for one thing...the romans did NOT use the cross as depicted nowday..they used a T- shape to crucify people on.
This also explains why when the Christians showed up in Ireland..there were already crosses with the celtic knots (for the sacred circle) there.
The cross does not belong to only the Christians.

[Enthusiast]

46. But it is not universal.

And that is the point.

[winyanstaz]

51. agreed..it is not universal.

[FiveGoodMen]

36. Those who confirmed his appointment should be charged criminally

Or hung.

[Deja Q]

37. Scalia is surely the epitome of Christianity and acting like a Christian...

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:sarcasm:

[Island Blue]

38. Scalia is a symbol of all idiots.

Not just idiots who wear robes.

[sakabatou]

39. Someone give me a clue-by-four

[Democrats_win]

40. Would you worship the gun if your son was killed by a gun?

Some say that early "christianity" adopted the cross from other religions so that a transition from the other religion to "christianity" would be smoother.

Also, the actual method in which Jesus was crucified was likely not the t-shaped cross associated with "christianity."

Finally, the ten commandments forbid worshiping objects such as carved images of animals, objects in the sky etc. Essentially, cross worship is forbidden.

[PSzymeczek]

41. Um....

No.

[Enthusiast]

42. Convoluted logic.

The same logic that, after duck hunting with Dick Cheney, enabled him to not recuse himself when the SCOTUS ruled on Dick's secret energy meetings.

[OneBlueSky]

47. definining "intellectual" downward . . . n/t

.

[niyad]

48. umm, tony?? the cross is NOT a symbol of my belief system, so bugger off

[JohnWxy]

49. I'm sure Scalia didn't have this in mind but the 'Christian' cross symbol was appropriated from the

Egyptian symbol for life, the Ankh. The Christians just modified it by closing the loop at the top.

I always wondered why if this was supposed to be the Crucifix why it had a piece jutting up above the horizontal piece, since the Roman device for crucifying criminals and other ne'er-do-wells was a 'T' shaped affair. When I saw an Ankh it was immediately apparent where the symbol came from.

The symbol is much older than Christianity.

[yellowcanine]

50. I agree that Scalia is a symbol of ignorance to all peoples.