Tuesday, July 10, 2018

COUNTRIES ARE RULED BY MINORITY GROUPS

I became curious about countries being ruled by minority groups, especially religion, because in America:
...approximately 69% of the Americans identified themselves as Christians, with 45% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant, and 20% professing Catholics beliefs.*  In addition, a maximum percentage of the population that is Jewish is estimated to be 2.6%)

Why do Protestant Presidents select Catholic and Jewish jurists for the Supreme Court?

Since Protestants are more than twice as abundant as Catholics, I found it surprising that in the ultimate political division of the U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court, five of the nine members are Catholics (55.6%), three are Jewish (33.3%), and only one may be Protestant leaning but was brought up a Catholic.

Doesn't this seem strange that there are no declared Protestants on the Supreme Court?  It is not as if there are few Republicans in the Protestant faiths.  Certainly, there are 10s of millions.  Besides, Protestant Democratic President Obama followed suit.

Please don't get the idea that I am some Catholic and Jewish hater.  I am sure that all the members are well qualified and maybe even the most qualified.  This asks the question, why aren't Protestants better at law?  For a long time there was an anti-Catholic view in America and, of course, Jews face anti-antisemitism the world over.  Perhaps this is the reason for a more serious interest in the politics of law.

When you are denied the opportunity to join clubs, live in "good" neighborhoods, eat in certain restaurants, or even work in certain businesses, you get interested in law in a very serious way.  If this is so, we can expect a "Black" wave coming?  It is well within my lifetime that African Americans could go into just any restaurant.  I was a post-doc at Carnegie Inst. Wash. when restaurants were integrated in Washington, D.C.

I've heard that Republicans are more interested in the court system than Democrats, but only 37% of Catholics are Republicans whereas 44% are Protestants (with 19% being independents or other). and 26% of Jewish people say they are Republican with 64% saying they are Democrats (with 9% saying they are independents or other)***

Presidents are something else with only one having been Roman Catholic and looking at the statistics, it is no surprise that he (John Kennedy) was a Democrat.  In addition, only one vice-president has been Roman Catholic - Joe Biden also a Democrat though Mike Pence has described himself as Catholic.  Two Roman Catholics have been nominated for president but lost the election - Al Smith and John Kerry, both Democrats.  A string of Roman Catholics have been nominated for Vice-President by the Democratic Party beginning with Bill Miller in 1964, through Ed Muskie, Tom Eagleton (forced to withdraw) and Sarg Shriver in 1972, then Again Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 (also the first woman nominated for vice-president).

In addition, the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, is Roman Catholic and so was his predecessor, John Boehner.

Admittedly the Leader of The Senate, Mitch McConnell, is Baptist, plus the makeup follows closely with the percentage of the population with 58% of the Senators expressing Protestant beliefs and 24% Roman Catholic and 8% Jewish.****

Maybe it isn't strange.  Think of Iraq, for example.  For a long time, Iraq was ruled by Sunni Muslim dictators even though the predominant population was of Shiite Muslims.  Then in Syria, the reverse is true with the country ruled by a dictator family of a minority Shiite Muslim group whereas Sunni Muslims are the predominant group.  Maybe sometime I will investigate this further.

 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States
** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2018/06/who-is-protestant-member-of-supreme.html
*** http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/23/u-s-religious-groups-and-their-political-leanings/
**** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_affiliation_in_the_United_States_Senate
(Note: The most Republican religious group is Mormon with 70% saying they are Republicans and on 17% saying they are Democrats with 11% saying they are independents or other.  The most Democratic religious group is the African Methodist Episcopal Church with only 4% saying they are Republicans and 92% saying they are Democrats with only 4% saying they are independents or other)

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