http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0803/27moore.html
House vote sanctifies religion Judge Roy Moore, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, has drawn national attention with his refusal to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Supreme Court, even though its presence has been ruled an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by government. Far fewer Americans know about an even more troubling turn of events. On July 23, shortly before Congress recessed, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to bar the use of federal funds to implement that ruling against Moore. In essence, they voted 260-161 to block enforcement of the Constitution. Of Georgia's 13-member congressional delegation, only two -- John Lewis and Denise Majette -- had the wisdom and courage to vote against the amendment. Unlike so many of their colleagues, they understood that our forefathers never intended government to sanction one religion over another. And clearly, the presence of the 2 1/2-ton Christian monument in Alabama's halls of justice is intended to do exactly that. Passage of the House amendment has had no real effect on the course of events. With Congress in recess the measure has had no chance to become law, and since that vote the eight other justices on the Alabama Supreme Court have wisely overruled Moore by voting to obey the federal court's order. That makes removal of the monument the responsibility of state officials, not federal marshals. Moore, whose previous petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the removal was denied, is now appealing the substantive ruling -- that the Ten Commandments display in the courthouse is unconstitutional -- to the high court, which is his right. He has also been suspended from the bench by an Alabama judicial ethics committee for his refusal to obey the federal court order. In many ways, though, the vote by 260 representatives not to use federal money to enforce the Constitution is more troubling than the antics of one judge. It also demonstrates once again how wise our forefathers were. They understood that some rights are too fundamental to be left to politicians. ------ "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded project." - James Madison _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
