November 14, 2003 6:00 AM

Memo to Judge Moore: This is what they mean by "separation of Church and State"

Judge in Ten Commandments case removed

The chief justice placed himself above the law.

- Presiding Judge William Thompson

I have absolutely no regrets. I have done what I was sworn to do. It's about whether or not you can acknowledge God as a source of our law and our liberty. That's all I've done. I've been found guilty.

- Judge Roy Moore

Thankfully, it has once again been shown that in America, no man, not even a self-promoting demagogue like Judge Roy Moore, is above the law. I'm not sure Moore quite gets that yet.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from office today for refusing to obey a federal court order to move his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state courthouse.

The state Court of the Judiciary unanimously imposed the harshest penalty possible after a one-day trial in which Moore said his refusal was a moral and lawful acknowledgment of God. Prosecutors said Moore's defiance, left unchecked, would harm the judicial system....

A federal judge had ruled the monument was an unconstitutional promotion of religion by the government. A federal appeals court upheld the ruling, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Moore's appeal. The monument eventually was rolled to a storage room on instructions from the eight associate justices.

Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the three groups that sued Moore over the monument, said the action of the court and attorney general were courageous.

"They stood up to a popular political figure and said no one is above the law. We intend now to file a complaint with the Alabama State Bar Association asking that Moore be disbarred," Cohen said.

The Judicial Inquiry Commission filed the complaint about Moore's defiance with the Court of the Judiciary, an ad hoc panel of judges, lawyers and others appointed variously by judges, legal leaders and the governor and lieutenant governor....

The prosecutor, Attorney General Bill Pryor, on Wednesday termed Moore's defiance "utterly unrepentant behavior" that warranted removal from office.

The problem with too many Fundamentalists is that they fail to remember that while we may be one nation "under God", the separation of Church and State is fundamental to our system of government. When you begin to impose your version of God on government, you invariably begin to exclude those who do not believe as you do.

This is not about discriminating against Christians or Christianity. It's about recognizing that our government cannot function if it is based on only one version of "God". I have no qualms with Judge Moore wanting to recognize God. But his God is not the God of Jews or Muslims, who are every bit as American as he is. If Judge Moore is allowed to erect monuments to his version of God, before you know it reprobates like Fred Phelps will be demanding to do the same- and they will have the right to do so under the law. Is that what we really want?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 14, 2003 6:00 AM.

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