Vanity: My Letter to Alabama Attorney General Pryor

Self | 11/11/2003 | Self

[farmer18th]

Dear Mr. Pryor:

Your actions with respect to Judge Moore confuse me.

Is "Thou Shalt Not Steal" offensive to you? (I'm glad I don't own property in Alabama)

Is "Thou Shalt Not Murder" problematic for you? (I'm glad I don't live in Alabama)

Is "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" hurtful to you? (I'm glad you don't know my wife.)

Is "Thou Shalt not Bear False Witness" repugnant to you? (I'm glad I never had to seek justice in your state.)

Is "Thou Shalt Have no Other Gods Before Me" distasteful to you? (What with lightning bolts and all, I'm glad I dont worship next to you.)

We are a nation of laws, Mr. Pryor, and not of men. I'm just confused as to which laws you follow.

[farmer18th]

c) "THOU SHALT NOT MAKE ANY GRAVEN IMAGE" Aside from the fact that Moore himself has created a 'graven image' this is a commandment that few of us are interested in following. Are sculptures immoral? I don't think so. Do you? If so you should be offended by this monument.

Thanks, at least, for taking them one by one. The ten commandments graven in stone are not a "graven image" any more than the original set of ten commandments, written in stone, were a "graven image." God himself ordained the statuary of the Tabernacle, including detailed instructions as to how to fashion the cherubim. Graven image is understood to mean any object designed so as to be an object of worship. A complete reading of the Bible can indicate no other conclusion. More on the rest of your objections later, and thank you for admitting, tacitly, that no rational person could object to an ancient and time honored prohibition of murder, adultery, covetousness, theft, and perjury. There is at least progress there.

[EternalVigilance]

By the way - MY conservative agenda is for the government to have LESS involvement in every aspect of our lives. Only in your world is using the state as an ad agency for your chosen faith a "conservative" idea.

In the real world, the one you obviously aren't familiar with, nature abhors a vacuum. If it isn't what I believe, which is what Americans have historically believed, it will be something else--like communism, or Islamism, or Gaia worship or something. Or perhaps simply secular humanism, the holding action against Christianity that opens the door and holds it for some other 'ism'.

[lugsoul]

Yep. Your platitudes notwithstanding, the most prominent characteristic of those with whom you stand is the love of money and the willingness to churn fear and divisiveness in order to get people to cough it up.

There is no vacuum of beliefs - and Christianity does not require state-sponsorship in order to thrive. In fact, such sponsorship has historically been bad for the Church and good only for those who like to use their false piety as a means for lining their pockets.

[Bryan24]

You are spouting off because of your emotional attachment to the POLITICAL 10 Commandments arguments. Roy Moore misused his office as the Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice to try and further a political agenda.

Many on FreeRepublic have pointd out the various errors he made.

You have proven yourself to be rabid, non-thinking and non-listening. That is exactly what the Democrats/liberals are.

[farmer18th]

When you get over being an inveterate liar, come back with your lectures on morality. Until then, there is no need for anyone to listen to you and your lies.

You must really be on the ropes. You're mixing up concepts of faith, religion, and law. The founders, despite being of different faiths and different religions, all agreed that the Ten Commandments were a correct summation of immutable moral law of the universe--including the need to worship the one, single, true God. That was a matter of law, not faith. The fact is the Republic, as the world, really can't abide too many people who are not among the natural or adopted tribe of Abraham. Atheists and Agnostics are dangerously imbalanced and unpredictable citizens. Every people who stray too far from the "book" end up quagmired in that "which is right in their own eyes." To wit, Marxism, Fabian socialism, the myriad social quagmires of Asia and the animist hell of Africa. Is that the "free republic" you want--a nation of deadened souls taken their cues from empiricists who don't have the moral grounding to refute a Pete Singer or a Barbara Boxer, for that matter?

[EternalVigilance]

BS statement on every level.

You have no clue what my motives are; and those who know me and my real record in the conservative movement for the last decade would laugh in your face at your attempt to smear me.

Your charge that I want state-sponsored of Christianity is also a laughable strawman.

[Looking for Diogenes]

More on the rest of your objections later, and thank you for admitting, tacitly, that no rational person could object to an ancient and time honored prohibition of murder, adultery, covetousness, theft, and perjury. There is at least progress there.

Progress? I never said otherwise, so we're still right where we started. You'll find I posted a while ago that Common Law, based largely on Roman Law, formed the origin of our civilization's legal framework. Those old Roman laws banned murder, adultery, theft, and perjury. Come to think of it, so does the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. Those are indeed ancient prohibitions which cut across different religions, political systems, and heritages.

If someone wants to post a sign in a courthouse saying "Don't lie, cheat, steal, or murder" then I'd have no objections at all. But that's not what Moore did.

[lugsoul]

"The founders, despite being of different faiths and different religions, all agreed that the Ten Commandments were a correct summation of immutable moral law of the universe--including the need to worship the one, single, true God."

A nice allegation - but completely false. There is no basis for claiming any "AGREEMENT" that the 10 Commandments were the summation of immutable moral law or the basis of all US law. None.

"The fact is the Republic, as the world, really can't abide too many people who are not among the natural or adopted tribe of Abraham."

There it is. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Plain ol' bigotry.

[lugsoul]

It is not a "charge." Your own words support it. As does your defense of what I termed 'using the state as an ad agency for Christianity."

Your words speak for themselves. I find it comical that those who claim to be 'patriots' are always the ones yelling the loudest about how terrible the US is and how it needs to be remade in the way they think it should be.

Christianity is thriving in Alabama, and was thriving there long before Roy Moore came on the scene. No one needs his antics for any purpose other than to create the false boogeyman of the jackbooted government thug coming to confiscate your Bible. And you further that purpose as much as anyone here.

[EternalVigilance]

It is not a "charge." Your own words support it.

My words don't support your assertion that I do what I do motivated by money. It is simply a scurrilous lie, motivated by your desire to tear me down personally. You must have learned your tactics from Serpenthead.

[lugsoul]

Trouble with reading comprehension? Perhaps next time you will be able to see the distinction between YOU and THOSE WITH WHOM YOU STAND. Or maybe there isn't one, which is why you misread my post.

[Ohioan]

As to the suffrage issue, your position is, to me, unrealistic, elitest, and arbitrary. Any measurements of voting qualifications such as you mention would be arbitrary and subject to abuse.

Any electoral system is subject to abuse. But would you really rather continue the sort of farce that went on in 2000 in Florida, Wisconsin (multiple voting), Missouri (leaving the polls open longer in the Democratic stronghold) etc., than try to put a lid on incompetent and bought voting? And it seems to me that taking away the vote of anyone--at a particular level of Government--who takes a regular payment from that level of Government--especially if unearned--is the least arbitrary restraint you could have.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[Chancellor Palpatine]

You must have learned your tactics from Serpenthead.

You rang? LOL

[EternalVigilance]

Actually I was referring to Carville, but you'll do.

[EternalVigilance]

Your smears of Alan Keyes, and Roy Moore and Dr. Kennedy, Dr. Dobson and other fine Americans are of the same quality as the smears you've attempted towards me.

[EternalVigilance]

Trouble with reading comprehension?

Maybe you have memory problems, since you seem to have forgotten that you've been trying to peddle the idea that I'm nothing but a paid shill for hours.

[lugsoul]

You show no humility by placing yourself in that company. Perhaps that level of hucksterism is what you aspire to, however. I will honor Dr. Keyes' service, but his promotion of a perceived religious crisis is insulting to tens of thousands of believers who don't need Keyes to tell them whether or not their faith is properly reflected in their politics. As for the other three you name, we'd all be better off if they got a large snake oil caravan so we could keep an eye on all of them at once - and a hand on the wallet, as well.

As for you - your record is clearly that you are a paid shill. That you may do it for free at times does not negate that fact.

[EternalVigilance]

You preaching about humility? What a hoot.

[atlaw]

Are you in favor of requiring all citizens to carry a laminated card containing the ten commandments?

[lugsoul]

I'll leave the preaching to the preachers. Unlike you, who wants to place it in the hands of the politicians.