Capitol rally backs Ten Commandments: State's leaders voice support

Georgia's top political leaders used a rally Monday at the state Capitol to show their support for displaying the Ten Commandments on government property despite recent court rulings that have found such displays violate the U.S. Constitution.

"It is our duty as citizens to make our voices be heard and to ensure our rights to display the Ten Commandments in our public buildings," Gov. Sonny Perdue told several hundred people gathered outside the Capitol. "The Supreme Court may be the final judicial authority in our land, but they are not the ultimate authority."

The crowd rallied around a lightweight replica of the 5,300-pound monument of the Ten Commandments that Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore had installed in the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery. Last month, a federal court order forced Alabama to remove the granite slab from its prominent display in the court building.

In Atlanta, the replica of God's laws handed down to Moses received bipartisan support.

Mac Collins, a Republican congressman, took a break from his campaigning for the U.S. Senate to helicopter in from Jackson for the rally. "Our founding fathers wanted to keep the government out of the church," Collins told the crowd. "They didn't want to keep the church out of government."

Other candidates and elected officials who could not attend the rally sent letters of support for the movement.

U.S. Sen. Zell Miller, a Democrat and former governor who is retiring from the Senate seat Collins and others are seeking, wrote that more is at issue than a display of the Ten Commandments. "It is about the right of our people to acknowledge our Creator in a public place," said Miller's letter, an excerpt of which was read to the crowd.

Attendance was a no-brainer for politicians, especially for Republicans, said Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia. "The strongest supporters of the GOP are individuals who are identified with the religious right," Bullock said. "Democrats, of course, would like to make some headway, so, to that extent, they may see this as a way to gain some votes."

Moore, the Alabama chief justice who refused to remove the Ten Commandments monument, was suspended from the Alabama high court by his fellow justices, and the monument was removed from public view Aug. 27. Moore's defiance attracted worldwide headlines and support from thousands of Christians.

Recent polls indicate three out of four Americans disagree with recent court decisions on the issue of such displays.

Monday's rally on the state Capitol grounds was organized by the Georgia Christian Coalition, and the event is one of seven scheduled in the Southeast to feature the replica of the monument.

Apparently made of plastic foam, the replica was taken north of Atlanta on Monday night to Winder, where the American Civil Liberties Union is suing to force the Barrow County government to remove a framed poster of the Ten Commandments from the county courthouse.

Many people in the Atlanta crowd carried signs with religious messages, including: "Thou Shalt Not Put God's Law in a Closet" and "No King But Jesus."

Two of Collins' rivals for the Republican Senate nomination -- businessman Herman Cain and U.S. Rep. Johnny Isakson -- also spoke against the court rulings.

Cain, who has been a CEO of Godfather's Pizza, denounced the court rulings as attacks "on our fundamental right to worship and to display our beliefs."

"There is an old saying that says: 'Out of sight, out of mind.' And what they are trying to do to us is make it out of sight, out of mind and out of our hearts. But they will never get the Ten Commandments out of our hearts," he said.

State Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin was the only Democrat to address the crowd in person. "Christianity is part of our American heritage," Irvin said. "We should never forget that. I never do."

The speaker of the state House of Representatives, Terry Coleman (D-Eastman), issued a statement that display of the Ten Commandments "is not unconstitutional, and I applaud those who are fighting to overrule the federal court."

Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition and now a campaign organizer for President Bush, urged the crowd on. "Stand firm," Reed said. "Stand for what's right."

A couple of hours later, a group of about 20 people gathered to decry the mixing of government and religion.

Larry Darby, the Alabama state director of American Atheists, said removing religious monuments such as the Ten Commandments from public buildings is not restricting people's right to religion. "They can still worship in their houses," Darby said.

Among the counterdemonstrators was Jeffrey Selman of Cobb County, who last year filed suit against the county's school district over evolution disclaimers inserted into science textbooks.

He also is demanding that Cobb County commissioners stop praying publicly before their meetings. "The government has not got the right to tell us . . . what they think is the right way into heaven," Selman said.

Sue Garland, a member of the Atlanta Freethought Society, said: "I do not want any religion imposed upon a building which my tax dollars have paid for."

Q. What do you think about the recent happenings down in Montgomery, Ala., regarding Justice Roy Moore and his Ten Commandments' monument?

A. If you took the Constitution as it was originally intended, the judge (Moore) would be quite right to put up the Ten Commandments (monument.) But if you take the Supreme Court's version of the Constitution, it goes against him. The Supreme Court has deformed the Establishment Clause out of all recognition.

How so?

The Establishment Clause - which says that the Congress shall make no establishment of religion - meant what it says: (The Founding Fathers) didn't want the federal government establishing a church that was preferred to all others.

Now there are two reasons for that. One is that they didn't like the idea of an established church. But the other one is that there were already established churches in some of the states - Connecticut is one of them - and they didn't want the federal government interfering with (the state) establishments. That indicates that the Establishment Clause was not the fierce anti-religious weapon it has become in the hands of the Supreme Court.

The best writing on this is a book by (University of Chicago Law Professor) Philip Hamburger, called "Separation of Church and State" (Harvard University Press). He goes into the history of the Establishment Clause in some detail. And it is quite apparent that nobody (at the time the Constitution was drawn up) was talking about the fierce hostility towards religion - or toward any manifestation of religion connected with government. What's happened, really, is due in large part to a later Supreme Court justice, Hugo Black, who played a very sinister role in changing constitutional law on that topic. The 'Cult of the Judge' (Judge Robert Bork's new book)

The Inseparability of Law and Morality: The Constitution, Natural Law, and the Rule of Law is an opus based entirely on Natural law- the original philosophy of the Constitutional Framers. Ellis Washington shows how and where America went wrong in separating law from morals, by applying Natural law precepts to a wide variety of contemporary, legal, moral, political, social and philosophical problems. Washington exposes the sophistry of former and current legal and philosophical approaches to the law like: democracy, positive law, utilitarianism, relativism, egalitarianism, secularism, liberalism, feminism, progressivism, pragmatism, materialism; ideas, which have in modern times, proven themselves to be wholly untenable, dangerous and inevitably lead to a corruption of societal morality. He concludes that the only solution to regain public civility and respect for the rule of law is for America to return to the ancient notions of Natural law and the original intent of the Constitutional Framers.

Harvard University Press/Separation of Church and State

AMENDMENT ONE Legal Scholar Says Founding Fathers Back Justice Moore on Ten Commandments

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.