Posted on 08/28/2003 12:12:24 PM PDT by quidnunc
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Judge Roy Moore, the publicity-seeker who put the 2.5-ton Ten Commandments in the Alabama state courthouse, declared Monday that he could disobey the direct order of a federal judge because "judges do not make laws, they interpret them." Since, Moore continued, an interpretation can be wrong, therefore he may defy a judicial order. So presumably Judge Moore also thinks that if he sentences a man to prison, the man can declare that the interpretation might be wrong and walk free? It's exactly the same logic.
Moore further said that the First Amendment precept, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion," does not apply to him because "I am not Congress." Drag this incompetent lunatic out of the court quickly, please. Anyone with entry-level knowledge of Constitutional law knows that the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, was intended to extend the Bill of Rights to state governments; that a 1937 Supreme Court decision specifically declared that the First Amendment binds state officials like Judge Moore.
As a church-going Christian — TMQ was in this church on Sunday — I find it deeply embarrassing when Christianity is associated, in the public eye, with hucksters like Moore. I find it embarrassing, too, when Christians supporting Moore's hunk of stone suggest that a big object in a public square is what matters, rather than the power of God's message itself. Anyone who needs to look at a big object in order to believe, doesn't really believe.
And consider that in the same state, Alabama, where the Judge Moore sideshow is getting nonstop media attention, Republican Gov. Bob Riley is risking his political neck to campaign for tax-law changes that would increase taxes on the well-off while exempting everyone who makes less than $17,000 annually. Gov. Riley phrases the campaign in religious terms, saying, "According to our Christian ethics, we're supposed to love God, love each other and help take care of the poor." How come this pure and admirable Christian sentiment gets no media attention while the egomaniac with the hunk of stone in the same state's courthouse enjoys round-the-clock coverage?
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(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
Are you saying this God doesn't exist?
building in order to acknowledge that God - is also the ONLY God who is gracious enough to allow His children to worship Vishnu, or Buddha.
Actually the command is that His children should love those who worship Vishnu or Buddha.
That should be 1789; made the correction in a subsequent post.
Lets see, we've eliminated slavery, child labor, Jim Crow and trusts just to name a few of the many ways in which society has advanced.
So how has this degraded our system?
"Americans are free to worship other Gods
Judge Moore.
So leaving your personal feelings about Judge Moore aside, you now agree that the public artwork should stay?
Hyperbole. Cite to a single court decision in which "God" or any vestige of God was required to be removed from any private sector facility, institution, or event.
I used to think that people who identified themselves as conservative had both scorn and fear of government power. It is remarkable the extent to which persons who would adopt such a view about most things will run headlong into the loving embrace of government where their precious faith is concerned. No surprise that the persons most guilty of this are almost invariably identified with a majority religion.
Most of the Founders were smart enough to understand this, and said so explicitly in discussing the First Amendment.
The diplay of the ten commandments is a dangeorus thing to many because they prefer the pretense that by the absence visible symbols politicians and lawyers can keep their presuppositional views of God incognito.
It is remarkable that so many people will so readily discard the whole idea of intent on this issue. Intent is a fundamental characteristic of our most basic law. Without intent, there would be no distinction between murder and self-defense. Without intent, there would be no distinction between burning a flag to dispose of it and burning a flag to express hatred for the U.S.
Intent matters under the law of the land, and under the law of God. The Tenth Commandment is about nothing but intent.
7 out of every ten children born in urban America are fatherless.
40 million children have been killed in the womb since 1973.
Justice Kennedy tells me that homosexuality is deserving of the utmost respect in contradiction to all major religions of the world.
The Ninth Circuit has oredered the cessation of the Pledge of Allegaince with the words "under God" included.
The Eleventh Circuit has oredered the cessation of VOLUNTARY prayer at the evening meals at a public institution.
The fed circuit court in Texas has ordered high school football players not to pray before games.
The public schools are rife with bananas, prophylactics and "alternative lifestyles".
Illegal immigration is out of control.
The Ten Commandments are becoming verboten in the public square.
The kid at the store has to use a calculator when I buy something for 99 cents and I give her a dollar to figure out how much change I get.
The government takes half my money without so much as a thank you.
For twenty years, prior to Bush, the jihadists used Americans for target practice without ever once paying a price.
Yeah, everything is simply hunky dory.
OTOH, the behavior of the Florida court in 2000 and the unwillingness of the SCOTUS to condemn them or even gently note it overstepped its bounds, still scares me.
What is that pesky government IRS rule about private churches speaking out about politics my 1st amendment friend?
Can you quote it? Let's take a look at it.
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