← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Brooke
Thread ID: 9377 | Posts: 7 | Started: 2003-08-29
2003-08-29 06:43 | User Profile
[url=http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?strwebhead=Jewish+views+on+monument+brawl&intcategoryid=3]Jewish groups celebrate outcome of Alabama case, but worry for future[/url]
By Matthew E. Berger
WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (JTA) ââ¬â Jewish leaders praised the removal of a monument of the Ten Commandments in the Alabama Judicial Building but are concerned by some of the developments the case has spawned.
"The result was what we wanted," said Deborah Lauter, the Anti-Defamation Leagueôs Southeast region director. "We celebrate the rule of law prevailing."
Despite the legal victory, some in the Jewish community are concerned by the amount of support Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has received in the state and in Congress. They worry that he will be portrayed as a martyr in future clashes over church-state issues.
They also worry that public response to the Ten Commandments case might cause some federal judges to let other unpopular orders go unenforced.
"What is symbolic about any discussion is the depths of feelings on both sides," said Marc Stern, the American Jewish Congressô general counsel. "These two sides really donôt understand each other."
Jewish groups were active while the case was in the courts, supporting efforts to force Moore to remove the monument, which he installed one night two years ago.
But since a federal court ruled in their favor last year, Jewish groups have taken a less active role ââ¬â waiting and watching as Moore defied the court order.
State officials took action Wednesday to move the monument from the buildingôs rotunda to a private area, while Christian religious activists who support Moore prayed outside.
"Weôve been happy to just let Judge Moore self destruct," Stern said.
Despite often taking a religiously conservative stance on church-state issues, the fervently Orthodox group Agudath Israel of America has not taken a position on the Ten Commandments case.
"God and the concept of morality does not violate the church-state separation," said Rabbi Avi Shafran, Agudahôs director of public affairs. "But something that is blatantly in support of a particular religion would be very clearly unconstitutional."
Other Jewish organizations filed briefs seeking the monumentôs removal last year, claiming it violated the Constitutionôs ban on government promotion of religion. The briefs argued that the monument not only endorsed religion, but also backed a particular religious perspective.
"The display of the Ten Commandments sends a message of exclusion to those who do not share the Judeo-Christian religious tradition and a message of favoritism to those who do," said a brief filed by ADL, the American Jewish Committee and the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, among other interfaith groups.
The brief went on to argue that the monument was also offensive to many within the Judeo-Christian tradition, as there is no universally accepted version of the Ten Commandments and Mooreôs court therefore is "endorsing particular sectarian beliefs."
The debate has highlighted the fact that not everyone shares Jewish groupsô definition of the separation of religion and state.
Lauter said she repeatedly has had to explain the difference between a tablet of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse and the words "In God We Trust" on American currency.
"ââ¬ËIn God We Trustô is not saying, ââ¬ËThis is a Christian nation,ô " she said. "The statue, with Judge Mooreôs rhetoric, is saying, ââ¬ËThis is a Christian nation.ô "
Stern said he also has been concerned by support Moore received in Congress. A measure earlier this year in the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee would have prevented the government from using federal funds to enforce Ten Commandments rulings like the one in Alabama.
The measure passed the House, but it was not included in the Senate version of the spending bill.
Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) introduced a bill this month that would give states the right to display the Ten Commandments on state-owned property.
"These are no longer politically unthinkable things," Stern said. "The absence of opposition is troublesome."
However, Lauter and others say they have been heartened by the acts of others in Alabama ââ¬â including the eight other justices on the stateôs Supreme Court, who voted last week to remove the monument.
One of those receiving accolades is Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, who has been working to enforce the federal court ruling. Pryor is believed to oppose church-state separation, but he is abiding by the federal court ruling out of respect for the law.
On other issues, however, Pryor ââ¬â a nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ââ¬â has run afoul of Jewish groups.
In a letter two months ago to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, ADL leaders outlined their objections to Pryorôs nomination.
Their concerns included his promotion of a Christian notion of American law, his opposition to abortion rights, opposition to equal rights for gays and lesbians, and promotion of statesô rights over federal law.
Lauter said she did not believe that Pryorôs handling of the Ten Commandments case would change the way Jewish groups see him, since he supports the idea of displaying the Ten Commandments on government property.
"Pryor has said all along, through his statements, that he will uphold the law," she said. But, she added, "his ideology has not changed a wit."
2003-08-29 06:47 | User Profile
Related article - I didn't see it posted.
[url=http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=12969&intcategoryid=4]'Principled stand' drives attorney at center of Ten Commandments case[/url]
By Larry Brook Deep South Jewish Voice
MONTGOMERY, Ala., July 8 (JTA) ââ¬â The plaintiff in the lawsuit against Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Mooreôs Ten Commandments monument actually thinks the monument "is very nice."
The 5,280-pound granite monument in the state Judicial Buildingôs rotunda "would look very good in a proper setting," Montgomery attorney Stephen Glassroth said.
"I didnôt think it to be particularly appropriate in the state Judicial Building or appropriate for a state official to be proselytizing his particular brand" of religion.
That is why Glassroth and two other attorneys filed suit against Moore.
On Nov. 18, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled that the monument violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.
And on July 1, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld that ruling.
For Glassroth, last weekôs ruling marks the latest ââ¬â but not necessarily the last ââ¬â chapter in a case that has catapulted the Jewish attorney to national attention.
Reacting to his latest legal setback, Moore told reporters last week that the federal courts are "simply wrong to conclude that we cannot recognize the sovereignty of God."
He argues that the whole of American law comes from the inalienable rights given to each person by God, not by government, and that as a government official it is his duty to acknowledge Godôs role in the nationôs life.
Moore has not decided what course of action to take following this ruling.
He has three weeks to request a rehearing or 90 days to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. To be reviewed by the Supreme Court, four justices must vote to hear it.
The long chain of events began in 1994, when Moore was a circuit court judge in Etowah County. A letter went out advising judges to cease having clergy offer prayers during court sessions, and to remove religious displays from courtrooms.
Moore refused to discontinue having exclusively Protestant clergy offer prayers, and refused to remove a hand-carved Ten Commandments display.
Two members of the Alabama Freethought Association, with assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union, filed suit, making Moore a folk hero in the Bible Belt.
That case was dismissed for "lack of standing," but the State of Alabama then filed suit to force a ruling that the practices were not unconstitutional. The Alabama Supreme Court dismissed that case as "nonjusticiable."
In 2000, Moore ran for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, with the nickname "the Ten Commandments Judge."
After his inauguration, he quietly commissioned the monument, not using any public funding and not alerting any of his colleagues at the state Supreme Court.
The granite monument has a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments on top, with quotes from historical figures below.
The quotes about religion in public life are not on the same plane as the Ten Commandments because "speech of any man alongside the revealed law of God would diminish the very purpose of the Ten Commandments monument," Moore explained.
The only film crew told about the monumentôs overnight installation on July 31, 2001, was from Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida, which used the footage in its ongoing fund-raising efforts to defray Mooreôs legal expenses.
Thompson, the District Court judge who heard the case, was concerned about that entanglement.
"It could be argued that Coral Ridgeôs religious activity is being sponsored and financially supported by the chief justiceôs installation of the monument as a government official."
Glassroth was out of town at a conference when Moore first installed the monument.
The day after returning to Montgomery, Glassroth went to see the stone.
"I was really stunned by it," he said.
Later, he spoke with Morris Dees, head of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that combats hate and discrimination.
"I told him how angry it made me, and how out of place I felt in a building that seemed to be preaching ââ¬ËEnter ye those who subscribe to our faith,ô " Glassroth said.
Finally, he told Dees that Moore should be sued.
"You be the lawyer, Iôll be the client," he recalled.
Glassroth first came to the region in 1978 to work with Dees.
A New York City native and a graduate of Northeastern Universityôs law school in Boston, Glassroth later went into private practice.
Glassroth figures his work takes him to the Judicial Building about 40 times a year. He is a member of the Alabama Sentencing Commission, which meets there.
The state law library is also there, and he often has cases in the appellate court.
Glassroth shrugs aside questions of reactions to what is clearly an unpopular stance in Alabama.
"You get some crazy ones, some hate mail, mostly messages," he said. But that was "a great minority of the overall messages Iôve received."
He is heartened by the outpouring of messages of support, including from religious Christians "who understand the importance of keeping religion a private matter."
"If you live half a century and canôt do something on principle, life becomes less significant and meaningful," Glassroth said. "This is something important for me, and itôs about time I take a principled stand on something other than my work."
At rallies supporting Moore, Glassroth is rarely mentioned.
Wrath is usually reserved for Thompson, and groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, which are seen as the primary opposition on church-state issues.
Moore tells the people of this state and the world that the state judiciary "prefers those who believe as he does," Glassroth said. "When youôre talking about the law, thatôs a very dangerous perception to be advancing."
Mooreôs supporters argue that the Ten Commandments is displayed at the U.S. Supreme Court, so Mooreôs display should also be permitted.
Glassroth said ââ¬â and the courts agreed ââ¬â the comparison is baseless.
The one at the U.S. Supreme Court "is part of an overall history of lawgivers. It is far more secular."
The Moore monument is in "almost a shrine-like atmosphere. Itôs not part of any historical display."
By Mooreôs own admission, he set out to make his display a recognition of God, something the courts said crossed the line.
"If we adopted his position, the chief justice would be free to adorn the walls of the Alabama Supreme Courtôs courtroom with sectarian religious murals and have decidedly religious quotations painted above the bench.
"Every government building could be topped with a cross, or a menorah, or a statue of Buddha, depending upon the views of the officials with authority over the premises," the 11th Courtôs opinion said.
The court also warned Moore against his stance that only the U.S. Supreme Court has authority to order him, as head of a branch of Alabamaôs government, to remove the monument.
"If necessary, the court order will be enforced," the decision said. "The rule of law will prevail."
John Giles, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, said after last weekôs ruling: "We are all shocked by the ruling against the Ten Commandments monument and Chief Justice Roy Moore."
If the stay is lifted, Giles warned, "it is my prediction thousands from across the state and nation will swarm to Montgomery to ensure the monument remains."
Glassroth said last week that he hopes that does not happen. "Iôd hate for Alabama to get a black eye again."
Forty years after Alabama Gov. George Wallace stood at the entrance of the University of Alabama in a show of defiance to integration, "I donôt think we need to turn the clock back 40 years and substitute religion for race," he said.
"I just wish the chief justice would speak out and say whatever the final decision is, he will abide by it."
2003-08-29 16:00 | User Profile
Despite the legal victory, some in the Jewish community are concerned by the amount of support Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has received in the state and in Congress. They worry that he will be portrayed as a martyr in future clashes over church-state issues.
You're damn right they're concerned. They, like any good shepherd, are sensing that the goy flock is getting restless, but they needn't worry. They should just click their heels together, say "Holocaust" or "Poisecution" three times, and the guilt will keep the herd in line, once again.
Or will it.....?
2003-08-29 18:00 | User Profile
This combined with the Catholic League's opposition to the smearing of Mel Gibson's Passion may just make for...
"Christians" laying down for the Jewish steamroller, only this time, they'll stick up their pinkie fingers before their bones are liquified. Onward, Christian soldiers!
2003-08-29 19:09 | User Profile
The eyes of most Christians with whom I've shared these two articles immediately glaze over; they just can't acknowledge that they're being hoodwinked, by "The Chosenââ¢". They don't comment at all on the blatant gloating, ("Weôve been happy to just let Judge Moore self destruct"), etc.
**On other issues, however, Pryor ââ¬â a nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ââ¬â has run afoul of Jewish groups.
In a letter two months ago to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, ADL leaders outlined their objections to Pryorôs nomination.** Was Pryor appeasing them? A concession, perhaps?
:(
2003-08-30 04:28 | User Profile
Has there been a single word from Moore regarding the Chosen? Not that I've been able to find, no.
2003-08-30 10:44 | User Profile
If this spawns 500 newspaper and tv-news stories...and not one utters the word "Jew" in the course of the reporting....trust me that good ol, reliable, set-your-watch-by-him Joe Sixpack will never put it together. He never has, after all.
Not to mention the handful of stealth-shmuels sent to commisserate with the Judge's supporters and lemnd 'moral support'. Of vital strategic importance are those stealth-Jews. They are the most effective preventative medicines against cultural wake-up calls and societal physics to flush out the Tribe.
"Whaddaya mean Jews engineered this? Lookit this column by Yehuda Genericstein defending the Ten Commandments!"
"How can you say the Jews start wars they won't fight in? My sister's boyfriend's next door neighbor's grandfather was at Anzio Beach, and HE's a Jew!"
"What kind of hater would claim that Jews control pornography as a means of destroying gentile culture? How about Andrea Dworkin's fight to ban porn?"
And my favorite......
"So what if we're forced to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas? After all, Jeezus wuz a Jew-!!"