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August 27, 2003

Response to a comment

Jessica (age 15) left the following comment on one of my posts about the Ten Commandments monument controversy:

The people who decided to suddenly remove the monument are a little late, don't you think? The monument has been in the building's rotunda for two years already, right? Why are these people waiting until now to remove it? The monument has never done any harm to anyone ( My gosh, it's just a 5,300 pound monument). It's not like it's going to start killing anyone or hurt anything! These people could start by taking away stuff that will really make a difference, right? Taking away somthing that is good to remember and does no harm to man-kind or pollutes our air or anything is senseless. This world does not need to be destroyed by hatred (evil), so please put the monument back where it belongs; reminding everyone that God is still in the world today, and evil will not intervene.

age 15

I thought I'd go ahead and share my response:

Well, Jessica, you should know that being young doesn't get you off the hook for not having your facts straight. The removal of the monument is not "sudden". The people removing the monument are working within the legal system to do it properly, with the support of the courts. It's only been there for 2 years because that's how long it's taken for the court case to get to a point where someone can legally order it to be removed. This isn't a new thing - it's been underway for a while.

When Judge Moore installed it, he did so KNOWING it would be wrong to do so - that's why he did it in the middle of the night when only he and the people helping him were around. He also did this without consulting with or informing the other Justices on the Alabama Supreme Court - another indication he knew what he was doing is wrong. If it was such a great and noble thing to do, why not do it in the light of day with everyone watching and knowing what you're up to?

Besides, it's not "harmless". As a symbol of only the Judeo-Christian faiths, that monument makes it clear that people who follow other faiths - which they're allowed to do freely in this country - are going to be looked upon differently than Jews and Christians, and that the state is perfectly fine with this. That monument says to every person who comes in that only the Christian and Jewish faiths are revered. In a country that holds the principle that the state cannot establish an "official" religion or hold one religion to be better, more important, more "right" or just more highly looked upon, having that monument in the middle of the State House is simply unsupportable.

Also, keep in mind that its not uncommon for governments that are run hand in glove along with a strong commitment to a specific religion - with the idea that "God's laws" are to be enforced by the government - usually end up with a great deal of blood on their hands. There are reasons why we've said that even if the Iraqi's want to democratically elect a theocracy, we won't allow them to have one. The mixing of government and religion is at the heart of far too many of the wars in the world. As such, its important in a country like our to put down any attempts at making this nation a theocracy - even a Christian theocracy - because theocracies are generally very bad for the people who live in them. Maybe this seems like a small thing now, but if we don't fight the small things, then those who want a theocracy will start on bigger ones, and we can't let that happen.

As to the popular claim that the Ten Commandments are the foundatinon of American Law, keep in mind that only 3 of those commandments appear in ANY form in our laws (prohibitions on killing and stealing, and a prohibition on lying while under oath - though lying at any other time is allowed), one is outright contradicted by the First Amendment to the Constitution (by granting Freedom of Religion - meaning that people can follow any faith or any God they choose - the First Amendment contradicts the First Commandment), and following one (no coveting) would pretty much destroy our entire economic system, which is based on the idea that people will work hard or be innovative in order to earn enough money to get those things they want. So there's no way to support the contention that the Commandments are somehow fundamental to our legal system.

The monument doesn't belong in the State House. It never did, and it should never be returned. The State House should be for people of all faiths who are there to seek justice, and the law is what matters.

Posted by thorswitch at August 27, 2003 07:51 PM

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Comments

Posted by: l.m.orchard at August 28, 2003 07:16 AM

Posted by: kriselda jarnsaxa at August 28, 2003 10:27 PM