The standoff between a federal appeals court and Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore over the public display of the 10 Commandments illustrates two extremes in the ongoing struggle to define America. Unfortunately, neither will serve the cause of religion in public life.
On one side are Judge Moore and his allies, who are contesting a federal court order to remove Moore's 2.5-ton monument from the Alabama judicial building. In their efforts to defend the Constitution, they risk transforming it into a religious document. Moore claims he would be "guilty of treason" if he didn't fight to keep the 10 Commandments in the courthouse rotunda. The Rev. Jerry Falwell agrees that the federal ruling should be ignored. "We believe breaking man's law is needed to preserve God's law," he told thousands of Moore supporters at a rally last week. They're now appealing the court's ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The problem with this argument is that America is not a biblical commonwealth, and the Constitution is not the Law of Moses. The American framers, keenly aware of the religious wars that ravaged most of Europe, deliberately kept religious doctrine out of the document. That's why Article VI insists that there be "no religious test" for public office.
It's also a bit curious that Moore, an evangelical Protestant, is so devoted to what amounts to a public symbol of his faith. It was, after all, the medieval obsession with icons and religious legalism that helped ignite the Protestant Reformation. Though revering the 10 Commandments, evangelicals have always emphasized a "religion of the heart" — a personal relationship with Jesus that doesn't confuse a living faith with the trappings of orthodoxy. Even the evangelical magazine Christianity Today has warned that a fixation with posting the 10 Commandments "runs the danger of becoming an idol."
But if Moore is pressing for a sacred public square, his critics want to secularize it. They're ignoring the profound influence of Christianity on the American founding.
That influence was such that even Thomas Jefferson, a critic of organized religion, allowed church services to be conducted in the chambers of the Supreme Court. It's no accident that the central figure in the frieze adorning the east facade of the Supreme Court is Moses, clutching the 10 Commandments, above the words "the guardian of liberty."
The framers drafted a secular Constitution. They insisted that, unlike the European experience, America would have no established church or official creed. But Americans had, and in many ways still have, an unofficial creed: a belief in the God of the Bible.
-snip-
(Joseph Loconte [Chicago Tribune] in The Heritage Foundation, August 26, 2003)
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And here is the crux of you and your fellow looney tunes problem.
The SCOTUS and the Executive branch of our republic DO NOT MAKE LAWS!
President Jeffersons letter to a Baptist in Danbury, CT has all the force of legal precedent as me blowing my nose.
The Wall is built on illegal and unconstitutional precedent precedent that might pass muster in a monarchy but not in a constitutional republic.
Chief Justice Rehnquist notes that (1) This comment was years after the amendment was written, and (2) That Jefferson was overseas in France when it was drafted and written. He also notes that Jefferson meant his statement in the sense that "government should keep their hands off of religion."
That interpretation puts Jefferson clearly in the camp of the strict constructionists who say the Fed has no business getting involved in religion.
The pro-death crowd are annoyed by "Thou Shalt Not Kill". Help us call and email or a simple prayer for Terri would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Get up to speed by doing a search under Terri Schiavo. FV