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Dear Editor:
I must disagree strongly with the editorial page’s celebration of Antonin Scalia. Far from being an ideal candidate for Chief Justice, Scalia periodically espouses views that are profoundly anti-American. A telling example is his reference to the gospel of Paul when writing on the death penalty in the journal First Things. Discussing the morality of government policies, Scalia suggests that government “derives its moral authority from God.”

This is in stark contrast to the founding ideas of our republic. The Declaration of Independence asserts that all people are endowed with rights by our “Creator,” which establishes them as “unalienable” human rights. Rights, however, are not government. Government is a human invention (“instituted among men”) used to secure rights. The authority to do so derives from the “consent of the governed,” an idea that is fundamental to Enlightenment democracy. To attribute government’s power to God is place it at a moral level above and beyond human beings. Scalia’s distortion places the moral authority of government above that of the governed, which is a position better suited to totalitarianism than democracy.

The Declaration is even clearer about the non-divinity of government in the next, rightly famous phrase: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” If government derived its authority from God, then this would be a call to abolish the authority of God. He can’t have it both ways-- either Scalia is misapplying the scripture or the Declaration is a blasphemy to Christians.

It is scandalous to hear someone discrediting the Declaration of Independence from the most powerful bench we have. If his views were to be enshrined and affirmed in a chief justiceship, it would be a disaster for the republic.

Sincerely,

Ben Chappell
Harrisonburg