Tell Lawyers To Strop Abusing The Religious Non-Establishment Clause.

Nicole Windfield wrote a short Associated Press article about a lawsuit against Pope Benedict XVI for covering up sexual molestation that occurred in the United States. The lawsuit is presently being pursued in a Texas court. The federal government has determined that has the sitting head of a foreign state he is immune to legal prosecution of the like. Of course the attorney for the plaintiff are yelling over violation of the first amendment which I cite below,

Daniel Shea said Tuesday he would challenge the constitutionality of the U.S. diplomatic recognition of the Holy See on the grounds that it goes against the First Amendment's of the Constitution ``non-establishment of religion clause'' that bars any laws respecting the establishment of religion.

Now the whole purpose of the First Amendment “non-establishment clause” is to prevent a Church of America from being set up as was done with the Church of England in Great Britain so how the plaintiff’s lawyer proposes that recognizing a foreign government that happens to be a Theocracy is setting up a state backed religion is beyond my comprehension. Personally I think the words slipped out of the lawyers mouth before his brain kicked in. The attorney failed to consider that Italy signed a pack granting independence to the Holy See in 1929 and it is now considered a independent country worldwide.

Of coarse conceding that the Holy See is a foreign country does lead to the seemingly reasonable conclusion that Catholic churches are foreign embassies and that the dictates of the Catholic church are foreign laws and regulations. The reality is that it is not presently treated that way, but that could be changed, which would get rid of some of the confusion.