Judge, Toss Those Commandments
Published August 22, 2003
Here's the big problem with Alabama's chief justice's stance on the Ten Commandment's monument he erected and now refuses to remove:
"The people of this state elected me as chief justice to uphold our constitution, which established our justice system on invoking the favor and guidance of almighty God," Chief Justice Roy Moore said Thursday. "To do my duty, I must acknowledge God. That's what this case is about."
It's that "to do my duty, I must acknowledge God" part that worries me. First, I think he's being disingenuous. This isn't really about his duty to the state of Alabama, it's about his personal religion and how he thinks it should influence him as a judge. What if he wasn't a Christian? Is he saying that an atheist couldn't be on the Alabama Supreme Court?
Second, if that's so, then the Alabama state constitution is itself unconstitutional, because it implies that a belief in the Christian god is a requirement for judgeship. By Moore's logic, if you don't believe in his god, you can't fulfill your duty to the state of Alabama. Therefore, you're unqualified to be on its supreme court.
Sorry judge. In America, you can't discriminate based on religion because that's essentially the establishment of a religion. So you're wrong about your duty and the duty of the other judges you serve with.
The biggest [but not only] problem with the Ten Commandments is that they're not just about the so-called foundation of our social and judicial systems. The first few are about the establishment of a god and a religion.
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
4. Remember thou keep the Sabbath Day.
When you place those Commandments in schools and on public/government property, you establish a religion — or at least a religious tradition — and impose it on the people who work, learn, visit, and defend themselves there.
Our judicial system — and Alabama's — is NOT based on the bible. It is based on man-made laws. The Ten Commandments have no place in our courts, no matter what Judge Moore's religion tells him.
- Judge, Toss Those Commandments
- Published: August 22, 2003
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- Section: Politics
- Writer: bhw
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Comments on this articleComments
This whole episode has been very calculated. Judges are elected in Alabama. Moore knew he could score massive points by playing to ignorance and prejudice. Furthermore, the federal judge he has been baiting is African-American -- a 'boy' outta his place, they're saying at the neo-Confederate sites.
Finally, Moore has been suspended. Now, let's hope pressure to return him to the Court does not succeed.
"This book [speaking of the bible] is the secret of
England's greatness." Queen, Victoria Windsor
"My daily advisor and comfort is the impregnable rock
of the Holy Scriptures." Gladstone, architech of
American law
"You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of
life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.
These will make you a greater and happier people than
you are. Congress will do every thing they can to
assist you in this intention." a message to the
Native American Indians, May, 12th, 1779 by, George
Washington, 1st US President
"Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not
only of republicanism and of all free government, but
of social felicity under all governments and in all
the combinations of human society." John Adams, 2nd
US President
"I have always said, and will always say, that the
studious perusal of the sacred volume will make us
better citizens, better husbands, and better fathers."
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President, 1st Washington
D.C. school board president
"Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil
Society, he must be considered as a subject of the
Governor of the Universe... Religion... is the basis
and foundation of government." James Madison, 4th US
President, chief architect of the Constitution
"The Declaration of Independence first organized the
social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's
mission upon earth and laid the corner stone of human
government upon the first precepts of Christianity."
John Quincy Adams, 6th US President
"The bible is the rock on which our Republic rest."
Andrew Jackson, 7th US President
"I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take
all of this upon reason that you can, and balance on
faith, and you will live and die a better man."
Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President
"I am sorry for the men who do not read the Bible
daily. I wonder why they deprive themselves of the
strength and the pleasure. I should be afraid to go
forward if I did not believe that there lay at the
foundation of all schooling and all our thought this
imcomparable and unimpeachable Word of God." Woodrow
Wilson, 28th US President
"Almost every man who has by his life work added to
the sum of human achievements of which the race is
proud - has based his life work largely upon the
teachings of the Bible." Theodore Roosevelt, 32nd US
President
"Religion is the only solid basis of good morals;
therefore, education should teach the precepts of
religion, and the duties of man towards God."
Gouveneur Morris, scribe / handwriter of the
Constitution
"Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scuple not to
call him an enemy to this country." John
Whitherspoon, Continental Congress, Declaration of
Independence
"Providence has given to our people the choice of
their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the
privelege and interest of our Christian Nation to
select and prefer Christians for their rulers." John
Jay, 1st Supreme Court Justice
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often
that this great nation was founded, not by
religionist, but by Christians, not on religions but
on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For this reason
peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum,
prosperity and freedom of worship here." Patrick
Henry, Continental Congress
"...convincing proofs I see... that God governs in the
affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the
ground without His notice, is it probable that an
empire can rise without His aid?" Benjamin Franklin,
Constitutional Convention,
"Of all the dipositions and habits which lead to
political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable supports... . Reason and experience
both forbid us to expect that national morality can
prevail in exclusion of religious principles."
Alexander Hamiltion, 1st Secretary of Treasurer
"The moral principles and precepts contained in the
Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil
constitutions and laws... . All the miseries and
evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition,
injustice, opppression, slavery, and war, proceed from
their despising or neglecting the precepts contained
in the Bible." Noah Webster, American Revolutionist,
Constitutional Convention, Dictionary
"There is not a community which cannot be purified,
redeemed and improved by a better knowledge and larger
application of the Bible to daily life." W.J. Bryan,
Democratic Orator and statesman, ran three times for
presidency and failed, nicknamed the Commoner
"I suspect that the future progress of the human race
will be determined by the circulation of the Bible."
Dr. R.A. Millikan, 1923 Nobel prize winner in physics
"Our ways; through a Christian President, finally
outlawed slavery in America with the world soon
following its lead. The great freedoms we enjoy are
the direct result of the Christian faith of our
predecessors. No great civilization or religion from
the world did it; it was our Christian Forefathers and
Foremothers and their open faith in God through the
Jesus Christ that did."
William M. Cooper
Kingsville, TX
coopr2000@yahoo.com
http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/8857
With all due respect, those guys are wrong.
True, just because they're recognized as leaders of their time doesn't make them right
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Right on bhw, and welcome! It was tossed yesterday and the judge is pouting.