"Thou shalt not tread upon the sacred state of Alabama" seems to be the grandiose statement emanating from self-righteous Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. Although the embattled judge claims to be enshrouded in the lofty morality of Christian principles, he comes off as rashly defying the sovereignty of the federal government. It's true that our founding fathers built the American legal system with Christian values in mind, but they also built a system in which federal power supercedes state power.
By refusing to execute U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson's orders to remove the Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse, Moore is exhibiting his resistance to the rules of American government and specifically to the separation of church and state. The fact that the people who elected him to office, as well as many others, emphatically support Moore does not make his action lawful. Whether it is morally acceptable for the monument to remain in the courthouse or not is unclear-but the law is not equivalent to morality.
If Moore wants to attempt to reverse decades of legislation that support the separation of church and state, he should do so if he is morally inclined. Clearly his commandments are more important to him than is the American legal system. While his local constituents may support him, his actions are contrary to federal law. This doesn't make him a bad person, but Moore is a judge and his entire career and public life are based on the law. For a judge to so blatantly contradict the rules and tradition of his own profession for a pet project seems ridiculous.
Moore must have known that the monument would bring trouble long before tax money was raised for the stone. Couldn't that money be better spent somewhere else? Right now the rock is sitting in a storage shed, which doesn't do anyone any good. I'm not even going to begin to try and cover the morally suspect "Christianity" that Alabama leaders have shown the last 50 years. While Moore hasn't done anything serious enough to forever tarnish his name in the annals of American history, he may be headed for it. I wonder what Moore would say about a Hebrew monument or scroll-after all, our laws are rooted in Christianity, as Moore says, but many Christian traditions and beliefs are rooted in Judaism. If Moore goes on a crusade to quash the separation of church and state, the result could very well be-if he is victorious, which is doubtful-that all religions would be allowed to enter the life of public schools and institutions. Is this something Moore wants? I think not.
Christianity may be the dominant religion in America, but that doesn't mean it should be favored over any other. Many European settlers came to America to escape religious persecution, and it would be a shame if self-vindicating judges like Roy Moore decide to take the law into their own hands and to bully the federal government into accepting their personal beliefs. Christianity has historical and cultural significance in our society, but it's not mandated by the federal government and should not be forced upon anyone, even if those in Alabama dissenting with Moore's views are in the minority.