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Article published Nov 23, 2003
Ten
Commandments: Government should not be a player in religious right's
crusade
BARRY W. LYNN
For the
Herald-Journal
Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has
shamelessly used the Ten Commandments and his public offices to advance the
religious right's moral crusade.Moore and religious right leaders harbor a great
contempt for the First Amendment principle of church-state separation. Indeed,
Moore has called church-state separation a "fable." And some of his supporters
have treated the Decalogue like a lucky rabbit's foot -- post them on the wall,
and all of society's ills will disappear.Moore's defiance of federal court
orders to remove from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building a hulking Ten
Commandments monument also has provided the religious right the opportunity to
promote, on a national stage, many of its oft-repeated canards regarding
church-state separation in America.Let's start with one of the religious right's
favorites -- that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of U.S. law. They
aren't. The Ten Commandments are an important moral code to millions of
believers, but they are not the foundation of American law.Our law does not
require citizens to worship only one god, and it does not ban the production of
graven images. We don't require citizens to keep the Sabbath holy, force people
to honor their parents or punish coveting. We don't even punish lying unless
it's in a court proceeding or in some other venue where criminal conduct is
involved.Most of the Ten Commandments deal with humankind's relationship to God.
To the religious right's disappointment, the First Amendment forbids government
from meddling in matters of religion.And do those who revere the Ten
Commandments truly believe government is needed to ensure their relevancy? It
seems that for a few thousand years now, the leaders of Judaism and Christianity
have been doing a pretty good job of getting the word out about the Ten
Commandments.Some of Moore's loudest defenders are the leading voices of the
religious right, including D. James Kennedy, Pat Robertson, the Rev. Jerry
Falwell, James Dobson and Alan Keyes. Those leaders made several other
assertions about Moore's actions that were as lame as their claim that the Ten
Commandments undergird American law.Religious right leaders frequently hailed
Moore as a courageous man. Nothing about Moore's actions was courageous. His
defiance of the federal courts was an act of an aspiring theocrat and religious
zealot. This country does not have religious courts or anything like them. When
you come before a judge, your age, sex, race and religion should be irrelevant.
What you believe -- or don't believe -- about God should be of absolutely no
relevance to the state.Moore's display of the Ten Commandments made religion not
just relevant but paramount. It sent a message that the Alabama Supreme Court
operates from a religious perspective. The state's highest court had a favorite
religious code, carved on a two-ton rock in the rotunda. Religious courts may
exist in Iran, but they ought to be alien to the United States.Moore was
portrayed as the victim. Many of Moore's defenders argued that the federal
courts were infringing on his religious liberty rights to acknowledge God.Moore
is free to pray and read the Bible on his own in his private office whenever he
feels the need. But he does not have the right to endorse any religious code in
his official capacity or imply that Alabama courts have even a quasi-official
religion.It seemed every religious right leader trotted out the tired myth that
the Ten Commandments are displayed in the U.S. Supreme Court. No display similar
to Moore's appears in the Supreme Court. The high court's chamber contains a
frieze that depicts great lawmakers throughout history. Moses is part of this
frieze. He is depicted holding two tablets, one of which contains some Hebrew
letters.The frieze also depicts Hammurabi, Solomon, Confucius, Mohammad,
Augustus, Charlemagne, Napoleon and others. Another frieze includes a single
tablet with the Roman numerals one through 10, which its sculptor stated
symbolizes the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution -- our Bill of
Rights.The federal court decision ordering Moore to remove his religious display
from the Alabama Judicial Building and the subsequent denial by the U.S. Supreme
Court to review that order have come close to sending many among the religious
right off the deep end.Phyllis Schafly, Falwell, Robertson, Dobson and a slew of
other religious right representatives are calling for Congress to change the
Constitution or at least pass a law denying the authority of federal courts to
rule on issues involving the Ten Commandments and other government endorsements
of religion.Now is the time for those who truly revere the Ten Commandments and
appreciate our Constitution's call to keep religion and government separate to
voice opposition to the divisive, destructive agenda of the religious right.The
United States is home to nearly 2,000 different religions, traditions,
denominations and sects. If government officials display the Ten Commandments,
will they also post the Five Pillars of Islam, the Four Noble Truths of
Buddhism, the Wiccan Rede and the Affirmations of Humanism? Government should
never play favorites when it comes to religion.The Rev. Barry W. Lynnis
executive director ofAmericans United forSeparation of Church andState, a
Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group that monitors religious libertyconcerns.
Lynn is a longtime civil liberties attorney andan ordained minister