Why there should be a wall between church and state
By Mitch Albom
SPECIAL TO MSNBC.COM
Aug 6 I love the Ten Commandments. I can recite them. I donıt always succeed in obeying them, but I still try, and I think the world would be better if we all did. Having said that, I can still say this: The Ten Commandments do not belong in a state courthouse. But last week, in Montgomery, Ala., they arrived in a big way. In the still of the night, a 2 1/2-ton monument featuring the Ten Commandments was trucked in and positioned in the rotunda of the stateıs judicial building. The building is home to, among other things, the Alabama State Supreme Court.
Go
I am the highest legal authority in the state and I wanted it there.ı
ROY MOORE
Alabama State Supreme Court chief justice ROY MOORE is the chief justice.
He ordered the sculpture.
The next morning, he unveiled it in a small ceremony. ³May this day,² he declared, ³mark ...a return to the knowledge of God in our land.²
Wow. And I thought only Moses delivered the tablets.
When asked what gave him the right without even consulting the other Supreme Court justices to sneak a huge religious symbol into a clearly secular building, Moore, who helped pay for the sculpture, said, ³I am the highest legal authority in the state and I wanted it there.²
Hmm. He must have missed the Bible study on humility.
JEFFERSON AND THE WALLı
Do you approve of an Alabama judge's decision to put a monument to the Ten Commandments in the state judicial building?
Yes
No
Don't know
Voice your views on MSNBC.com's Religion and Ethics discussion board.
Vote to see results Do you approve of an Alabama judge's decision to put a monument to the Ten Commandments in the state judicial building?
* 2339 responses
Yes 27%
No 72%
Don't know 1%
Voice your views on MSNBC.com's Religion and Ethics discussion board.Survey results tallied every 60 seconds. Live Votes reflect respondents' views and are not scientifically valid surveys.
Now, while I love and believe in the Ten Commandments, Moore is wrong to do what he did. Plain and simple. There is an accepted separation between church and state in this country Thomas Jefferson demanded it be ³a wall.²
Any Hindu, Buddhist or atheist entering the Alabama Judicial Building could rightly be squeamish upon seeing the words ³I am the Lord, your God² or ³Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy.²
Which Lord? Which Sabbath? What if you donıt believe in God? Can you feel confident about getting a fair hearing when a top judge has hung his religion on the door?
Judges are supposed to be impartial, quiet and blind in their justice. But Moore told me, ³itıs clear which god our forefathers referred to the God of the Scriptures.² Hmm. That sounds a lot more like Sunday morning than Monday through Friday.
OK. By now, you already have taken sides. Some will defend Moore with standard arguments:
Our forefathers were Christians. Thatıs why they put ³in God we trust² on the money.
Actually, thatıs not true. Many of our forefathers were deists. And ³in God we trust² is a fairly modern addition to currency.
You get sworn in on a Bible.
Yes, and many people feel uncomfortable with that, too.
Separation of church and state is a myth.
Sorry. Not only did Jefferson use those exact words, but John Adams, the second president, said, ³The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion,² and James Madison defended ³the total separation of the church from the state.²
Itıs what the majority of Americans believe, so whatıs the problem?
Ah. Now weıre getting somewhere.
MORE WORDS FROM THE BIBLE
It is true, the largest percentage of religious Americans believe in the Ten Commandments. But with majority status comes a burden: being sensitive to the minority.A democracy works only if everyone is considered equal. You canıt say, ³Well, most of us believe in one God, so tough on you.² Thatıs the mentality our forefathers were running from when they came here.
It is not, as some of the majority feel, a persecution of their faith. Actually, Justice Moore is doing a disservice to his religion. He is making faith a wedge between people, instead of leaving it where it belongs, in the hearts of the practitioners.
No one can tell Jews and Christians not to believe. But Jews and Christians cannot tell others what to believe or to believe at all.
Remember that the Ten Commandments never say ³Thou shalt convert others.² But the Bible does say, ³Judge carefully, for with the Lord there is no partiality.²
Thatıs in Chronicles, Justice Moore. But apparently not on your sculpture.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
³The Mitch Albom Show² airs Monday through Friday on MSNBC cable. This column is reprinted with permission of the Detroit Free Press. c. 2001, Detroit Free Press, all rights reserved.
-- ---------------------- -------------- ---- ------ --------------
Planet spins - so do I
neo-sufi wisdom
NEURONAUTIC INSTITUTE on-line: http://home.earthlink.net/~thew
