[WOSG]

In particular, it may not restrict the public square to one favored sect or creed, as Judge Moore did."

Uh, I agreed up to this point - "restrict" ... the point is, Judge Moore did no such thing. He didnt "restrict" anything, another Judge could do his thing, another office or court could do theirs. And of course private citizens could do there own thing ("A tribute to the contribution of Viking morality to American life ...").

Judge Moore's display does not involve any official edict, any establishment, any favoritism towards a particular sectarian group, nor any coercion or intimidation. Only those in the business of being professionally aggravated by religious sentiment even claim to be "offended". NOBODY is harmed by it.

What he did was no more an establishment of religion than making "MLK Boulevard" in our town means a violation of the free speech of those who oppose him.

Or maybe its okay to impose the religion of MLK but not Moses?:-)

[general_re]

He didnt "restrict" anything, another Judge could do his thing, another office or court could do theirs.

There is only one Alabama Supreme Court, as far as I know, though. How about if the next president decides to erect a giant crescent moon, the traditional symbol of Islam, on the White House lawn - that would be okay with you? After all, "another office or court" could just put up something else in some other building, right?

Judge Moore's display does not involve any official edict, any establishment, any favoritism towards a particular sectarian group, nor any coercion or intimidation.

It does the minute he makes the platform exclusive to one point of view, which is exactly - exactly - what he did here. Why can't the damn atheists put their damn atom in the rotunda too? What on earth is Roy Moore so very terrified of, that he can't put his beliefs to the Pepsi Challenge without stacking the deck in his favor, without putting his thumb on the scale? Is the Judeo-Christian tradition so weak that, faced with a sculpture of an atom, thousands of formerly devout Christians will drop their Bibles and begin hypnotically gravitating towards it?

Please tell me it's not so, that the faith is not that thin and filmy. I don't believe it. Roy Moore apparently does, but I don't. Not for a minute. Putting an atom in the rotunda is not going to make me an atheist, and anyone who is converted by that sort of thing was never serious about their prior faith to begin with, IMO.