← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Fire Pen
Thread ID: 9234 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2003-08-23
2003-08-23 14:29 | User Profile
Whenever I read in the U. S. Constitution, I am reminded of what a plainly written document it is. Its language, though precise, relies upon the commonly understood meaning of its words. One does not require a Philadelphia lawyer to translate redundant, overly defined legalese into everyday English. There isnââ¬â¢t any. Ironically, this may be one of the reasons that attorneys have, over the years, felt challenged to read things into the deceptively simple language.
Take the Bill of Rights. What could be clearer? Amendment 1 states ââ¬ÅCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Did you get that first part, folks? Congress ââ¬â shall make no law ââ¬â respecting an establishment of religion. It does not say (as many have been led to believe by those who would stand the constitution on its head) that people are forbidden to worship or pray freely anywhere and anytime they damn well please. In fact, Congress is forbidden to prohibit the free exercise thereof.
Now then, can any honest and intelligent reading of these words conclude that this amendment has been violated by Alabama Chief Justice Roy Mooreââ¬â¢s monument to the Ten Commandments? As the Chief Justice explained recently on the talk show circuit (or tried vainly to a number of near-hysterical, argumentative, and interruptive hosts):
1. Judge Moore is not Congress. The amendment then, which limits Congress, obviously does not apply.
2. No law has been passed, another requirement for violation of the amendment not met.
3. The placing of a conspicuous monument of The Ten Commandments does not establish a particular religion. But even if it did, Congress has passed no law respecting such an establishment . Moreover, the State Constitution of Alabama affirms the commonly held belief that all law is based on Godââ¬â¢s Ten Commandments.
4. Furthermore, requiring the removal of the Ten Commandments denies Judge Moore the free exercise of his religion and thus, itself, violates the First Amendment.
How can the Ten Commandments in the courtroom of a sovereign state be a violation of the separation of church and state doctrine when countless references to God and the Ten Commandments appear in the halls of Congress, the Supreme Court building, and in federal courts across the nation. References to God appear on our currency, our oaths of office, our pledge of allegiance and our Declaration of Independence.
It does not take an attorney to understand what was intended by our founders who, having lived under a country with a rigidly established church, desired the freedom to worship as they pleased. The entire Bill of Rights, in fact, were added as the first ten amendments to the Constitution to specifically guarantee the various freedoms. This was necessary in order to obtain the ratifying votes of those delegates who preferred remaining with the Articles of Confederation and feared the power of a federal government. Such men as Patrick Henry and others refused to approve the Constitution unless these specific rights were added.
Creative interpreters of "the living Constitution" will find my unscholarly reading of the Constitution to be too narrow. After all, it merely reflects the simple ââ¬â but unmistakable -- words of the framers. Such lawyerly types have convinced many Americans that the very words written to guarantee freedom of religion were really meant to guarantee freedom from religion.
Judge Moore is a courageous patriot who, like many of us, prays and works for a return to the constitutional republic of our founders. He deserves the full support of all freedom loving Americans.
2003-08-26 21:11 | User Profile
Judge Moore is a courageous patriot who, like many of us, prays and works for a return to the constitutional republic of our founders. He deserves the full support of all freedom loving Americans.
Here! Here! And the support of all Americans, regardless of Faith. Once the secular socialists are allowed to legislate, from the bench, one of our rights out of existance we are doomed as a free people.
Let the revolution to bring back our constitutional republic begin with this issue.