If I put up a rock in the Alabama Supreme Court building with the Ten Commandments and some quotes from MLK, Jr., and some quotes from Blackstone, and a few from the founding fathers on it, BUT I didn't say anything about my faith when I put it up, would that be an establishment of religion?I dunno. But Moore was asked to do something like that, and refused. He also, through his own words to the Federal Judge, made it clear that this was a religious monument.
If it were purely secular, surrounded by other secular displays, and the judge said it was secular, then it would be hard to argue it was religious.
That is all very interesting. The monument might have been OK if Moore kept his mouth shut. I suppose a court could say that although Moore thought it was religious, he was wrong, and thus the monument is OK. Actually, I don't think the federal court cared much about what Moore said. The monument was going period because it was viewed as ineluctibly religious, and while old stuff might be grandfathered as a practical matter, new stuff isn't.
Using oral statements to decide one way or the other strikes me as going down the wrong road in any event, because in another case, the statements could be self serving, and such statements are ephemeral anyway. What is also clear, is that the law is a mess in this area. And the sad thing is that I don't know how to make it much better.
Hey. You forgot to answer my other question. Would you feel uncomfortable being tried by a bunch of citizens of Alabama?