2 March—The Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos are people, real, live, actual people—unlike corporations, which, being legal fictions, merely have juridical personhood. (That’s why ya gotta love the law.) The Alabama case in question is James LePage and Emily LePage, individually and as parents and next friends of two deceased LePage embryos, Embryo A and Embryo B; and William Tripp Fonde and Caroline Fonde, individually and as parents and next friends of two deceased Fonde embryos, Embryo C and Embryo D v. The Center for Reproductive Medicine, P.C., and Mobile Infirmary Association d/b/a Mobile Infirmary Medical Center.

The case came about because of what was essentially negligence on the part of the Center for Reproductive Medicine’s cryogenic nursery (!) in allowing the plaintiffs’ frozen embryos to be destroyed—albeit unintentionally—by a wandering patient from the hospital that’s located in the same building as the ultra-cold-storage facility.

Virtually all aspects of the case are fascinating; and the court’s extended decision, the few concurrences, and the lone dissent are worth poring over when you have the time. (The case is SC-2022-0515.) But it’s Chief Justice Tom Parker’s frequent citation of theological and scriptural references in his concurring opinion that’s particularly disturbing. And inappropriate, of course.

That’s not surprising, however, as Parker is a far-right Christian nationalist who has regularly criticized other judges for not sufficiently considering religion in their rulings and called for conservative Christians to run the government while they’re influencing—and controlling?—American life. A theocratic state? No doubt about it. Theocracy pure and simple. And, one would think, unconstitutional from the get-go. But it’s Alabama.

Parker is on record as pontificating that God created government and Christians should take it back from the possession of others. He doesn’t say how, but Christian terrorism wouldn’t be surprising.

And, “The very God of Holy Scriptures, the Creator, is the source of law, life, and liberty.”

And, “When judges don’t rule in the fear of the Lord, everything’s falling apart. The whole world is coming unglued.”

And, “[Alabamians] have required us to treat every human being in accordance with the fear of a holy God who made them in His image.”

In his LePage concurrence, Chief Justice Parker opines, “The People of Alabama took what was spoken of the prophet Jeremiah and applied it to every unborn person in this state.”

And, “All human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing His glory.”

And, “Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God.”

And many more scary references, including some theological allusions that show he doesn’t know what he’s going on about.

What’s even scarier, Parker isn’t alone. Christian nationalism is metastasizing in America and becoming a threat of biblical proportion. (Couldn’t help it.)

Getting back to the IVF case, since the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos are people, the person who destroyed them should be prosecuted for homicide. Or at least involuntary manslaughter. So why hasn’t anything been done about it?