Voices : 2003 Jul : Soapbox

Dear Gentle Reader--

I've been watching the swirl of controversy surrounding Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and his three-ton granite monument to the Ten Commandments. In case you're unaware, Moore installed this monument surreptitiously in the Alabama Supreme Court one night. He claims that the Ten Commandments are the basis of American law and so belong in a courthouse. First a federal judge and then the US Court of Appeals told him he must remove the monument as it is a violation of the First Amendment prohibition on the establishment of religion by the State. With Moore having failed to convince the US Supreme Court to give an injunction against the order of US District Judge Myron Thompson that the monument be removed, one might think the affair would be over. Not in today's America -- five days past Judge Thomspon's deadline, the monument remains on display.

The whole thing strikes me as absurd. Both on the face of it and on the facts, Justice Moore is simply wrong. One can argue that the Ten Commandments form an important historical component of the foundation of our legal system -- but so do other things, such as the Magna Carta, Hammurabi's Code, and many other documents. If the display were meant as a historical, educational exhibit, and if these other influences received their due, then the display would pass constitutional muster. How do I know? Because such a historical panaroma can be found in no less august a building than the Supreme Court.

But Justice Moore and his supporters are not interested in a dispassionate, balanced exhibit. They want a firm affirmation of the primacy of Judeo-Christian faith. The most significant clue to this, their ultimate goal, can be found by -- say -- reading anything Justice Moore has said on the subject. Start with his poem. In it he derides one of the pillars of First Amendment rights, the separation of church and state.

What always flummoxes me, when these issues arise, is why people want the stamp of approval of the government anyway? By and large, people calling for a return to Christian values also profess a significant distrust of government in all forms. Why would they want it weighing in on matters of faith? In the end, I suspect, it's due to incomplete educations and the American tradition of a short horizon.

Anyone who has studied the Religious Wars in Europe during the 16th century would be a little gun-shy about enlisting the temporal power in spiritual matters and vice versa.

2003 July : Soapbox