CV NEWS FEED // A left-wing Christian activist group last week circulated a petition calling for the resignation of Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito, a Catholic.
As of Monday afternoon, Faithful America’s petition had gathered just shy of 15,000 signatures.
“Dear Justice Samuel Alito,” it begins. “As members of the Christian organization Faithful America, we are deeply disappointed by your recent comments … agreeing that the United States should move to a place of ‘godliness.’”
As Newsweek reported, Alito made these comments in “agreement” with undercover “liberal documentary filmmaker Lauren Windsor” at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual dinner earlier this month.
Per Newsweek, Windsor was “posing as a conservative while attending” the dinner.
In its description of the petition, Faithful America also took issue with Alito’s assertion – made when he thought he was “agreeing” with Windsor – that “the battle for America ‘can’t be compromised’ and that ‘one side or the other is going to win.’”
Faithful America did not acknowledge that Alito had also told Windsor, whom he apparently took to be a conservative activist, that the Supreme Court was not in a position to impose conservative values on the country, and that justices are properly limited by their constitutional role.
“This man is far from impartial,” Faithful America opined.
“These comments distort Christianity, violate the separation of church and state, and appear to endorse an extra-judicial agenda of Christian nationalism,” the group’s petition continued:
We are also alarmed by the nature of two flags that have flown outside your house, directly challenging our democratic system of elections and our judicial system itself. One of the flags, the “Appeal to Heaven,” is even a symbol of Christian nationalism carried by insurrectionists. You are unfit to serve on our nation’s highest court, and we demand that you immediately resign.
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Although Faithful America and other leftist groups often attempt to link the “Appeal to Heaven” flag to so-called “Christian nationalism,” the flag actually originated in 1775, during the American Revolution.
Americanflags.com noted, “The Appeal to Heaven flag was designed by Colonel Joseph Reed, who served as the personal secretary to George Washington.”
The flag, also widely known as The Pine Tree Flag, was “[o]riginally commissioned for use on six military cruiser ships” and “became the official Massachusetts navy flag in 1776,” Americanflags.com indicated:
Washington’s secretary chose a simple yet impactful design featuring a singular pine tree, a symbol of strength and resiliency within the New England states. The words “An Appeal to Heaven” stretch atop a white field, boldly proclaiming an appeal to God to save the colonists from the King’s oppressive ruling.
“The Appeal to Heaven flag draws its meaning from the British philosopher John Locke’s ‘Second Treatise on Civil Government,’” Americanflags.com added. “Written in 1690, the work was a collection of two treatises refuting the belief in the divine rights of monarchs”
It is a well-known fact that Locke was a staunch supporter of the “separation of church and state.”
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On its website, Faithful America calls itself “the largest online community of Christians putting faith into action for love and social justice.”
It claims that its members, “Catholic, Protestant, and more — are sick of sitting by quietly while Jesus’ message of good news is hijacked by the religious right to serve a hateful political agenda.”
“We’re organizing the faithful to challenge Christian nationalism and white supremacy and to renew the church’s prophetic role in building a more free and just society,” the group emphasizes.
Faithful America has an entire webpage dedicated to “resisting Christian nationalism.” It alleges:
With hundreds of far-right politicians using Christ’s name to deny election results, demonize their opponents, enact a theocratic agenda, and spread dangerous conspiracy theories … Christian nationalism is the single biggest threat to both democracy and the church today.
The group’s slogan is “Love thy neighbor. No exceptions.”
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