The issue is that there is a granite monument in the Alabama courthouse that refers to the Decalogue on its top and quotes several founders around it’s middle, all of these quotations refer in some way to God. Not the Protestant God or the Catholic God but God.
These references bother certain groups and people. These groups and people sued to have them removed.
Much has been made about Judge Moore and his Christianity. There is no claim by the plaintiffs, or by anyone else that I have heard, that Judge Moore’s faith unfairly affects his courtroom judgment. The Opinion by Judge Thompson goes to great lengths in exploring Moore’s faith. From this, as well as from your own comments, is that while the plaintiffs have a problem with the monument, Thompson and you have a problem with Moore’s faith.
Since this is supposed to be a constitutional argument, the monument is ordered removed based on the establishment clause of the first amendment. I find this absurd since I do not find that this monument “establishes” any church, either in Alabama or even in the courthouse.
We then move on to your contention that the world is filled with examples of religious abuse. My response is, yes, but that is the human condition, not the fault of religion. If you have a short memory, I will refer you to the fact that the greatest mass murders, foulest human rights abuses and most despicable acts of depravity were committed within the memory of living man by the lovely rationalists of the USSR and China. States - I will add - that were officially atheist and appealed to rationality and reason. You, on the other hand have to back several centuries to point to the Pilgrims, a sect that suffered not nearly the abuse that were visited on those who lived in peoples paradises.
You see, unless you believe in God – the Judeo-Christian God - you can justify anything, including killing 6 million Jews, as working for the greater good. Having the depredations of the rational humanists somewhat more current that the history books, I have much less fear from men of Moore’s persuasion that I have of the atheists of the ACLU, or even of you, who in a moment of blinding rationality, find a moral imperative that people like me should not be left alone.
Thank you for sharing that most of your family is Christian. So is Teddy Kennedy – or so he says, it’s just that his version of Christianity allows him to do just about anything to anybody. When I hear this, I am brought back to the statement you once heard: “some of my best friends are ….” You fill in the blank. It isn’t said much any more because now it’s the punch line for a joke.
For the moment, the people with guns are under orders to remove the monument. I have a suggestion for it’s replacement. There is absolutely no reference to God.
A tasteful sign:
Perhaps the sign should be encased in glass and lighted so that it may be read at night.