Just when I think Southern legislators and judges can’t make themselves look any more stupid, someone comes along to prove me wrong. In this case it’s the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy Moore. You probably remember that a judge refused to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom wall and also had a pre-session prayer every day. That was Moore. He lost the prayer issue after the state (at the behest of the ACLU and others) filed a lawsuit, but somehow the Ten Commandments remained.
Later, as Chief Justice (an elected position, and Moore is, of course, a Republican), he had a large stone Ten Commandments monument erected in the rotunda of the Supreme Court building in 2001. He again faced lawsuits over violating the First Amendment, lost in a series of appeals, but vowed to keep the monument anyway. (That, by the way, is an important judge refusing to adhere to the law.) The other judges overruled him, and the monument was removed in 2004. Here’s the monument before it was deep-sixed:
Moore also tried to uphold the antiquated Alabama statute against homosexual behavior. He lost that one when the U.S. Supreme Court declared such statutes illegal. In 2003, Moore was removed from office for his religiously-motivated intransigence, but it’s a testimony to the right-winginess of Alabama that he was again re-elected Chief Justice in 2012.
And now he’s back in the news, spreading his religious fervor. According to The Raw Story, Moore, in a recent speech, declared that the First Amendment applied (get this) only to Christians (see video below)!
Speaking at the Pastor for Life Luncheon, which was sponsored by Pro-Life Mississippi, Chief Justice Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court declared that the First Amendment only applies to Christians because “Buddha didn’t create us, Mohammed didn’t create us, it was the God of the Holy Scriptures” who created us.
“They didn’t bring the Koran over on the pilgrim ship,” he continued. “Let’s get real, let’s go back and learn our history. Let’s stop playing games.”
He then noted that he loves talking to lawyers, because he is a lawyer who went to “a secular law school,” so he knows that “in the law, [talking about God] just isn’t politically correct.” He claimed that this is why America has “lost its way,” and that he would be publishing a pamphlet “this week, maybe next” that contained copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, thereby proving that all the people “who found this nation — black, white, all people, all religions, all faiths” knew that America was “about God.”
Chief Justice Moore later defined “life” via Blackstone’s Law — a book that American lawyers have “sadly forgotten” — as beginning when “the baby kicks.” “Today,” he said, “our courts say it’s not alive ’til the head comes out.”
“Now,” he continued, “if technology’s supposed to increase our knowledge, how did we become so stupid?” Discussing Thomas Jefferson’s use of “life” in the Declaration of Independence, he said that “when [Jefferson] put ‘life’ in there, it was in the womb — we know it begins at conception. Why aren’t we going the right way instead of the wrong way?”
He later said the “pursuit of happiness” meant following God’s law, because “you can’t be happy unless you follow God’s law, and if you follow God’s law, you can’t help but be happy.”
“It’s all about God,” he continued. “We’ve made ‘life’ a decision taken by man,” he said, and “taken ‘liberty,’ and converted it to ‘licentiousness. We’ve taken ‘pursuit of happiness,’ and reduced it to materialism.”
What a litany of fail!
I’m appalled that such a man can mouth such idiocy. And I’m even more appalled that Alabamans, knowing his views and actions, chose to re-elect him. Of course the state harbors sensible citizens (I know a few), but, sweet Ceiling Cat, they should get the hell out of there and let the state secede!
Now if the First Amendment (freedom of speech and of religion) applies only to Christians, then it has no purpose at all, for nobody else is given those freedoms. What does it mean if only one religion has the right to proselytize and to speak without censorship? One might as well declare Alabama—and, if Moore had his way, the U.S.—a theocracy. He should be removed from office again, simply on the grounds that he openly opposes the U.S. Constitution.
Here’s a report showing the loon spouting his stuff:
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He looks about like I figured he would- I spent a couple of weeks in Western Alabama years ago, and I’ll never go back; it’s the nastiest, dirtiest state I’ve ever been in. The largest employer in the county where I spent my time was a toxic waste dump- the population was 95% black, but they resembled citizens of a third-world country. Too poor to have cars, they walked miles to get groceries from white-owned stores (whites owned, and ran, absolutely everything). The soil was worn out and eroded to bedrock in places, and the landscape was dotted with the stark chimneys of tumbledown sharecroppers’ cabins.
A toxic waste dump where 95% of the population resemble third-world citizens.
So much for Moore’s bogus claims of being “pro-life”
i completely disagree with the chief justice but i live in Alabama and i have live in a lot of states, Alabama is a beautiful state for the most part and there is run down cities in every state. Do not form generalize a state or its persons by individual experiences. That would make you as ignorant as the chief justice.
Reblogged this on The Road.
Yet another shining example of how attaining high station is not an accurate indicator of cognitive abilities or ethical standards.
I recently served on a jury. The judge seemed to be a decent person, and fairly intelligent. The public defender, however, was a travesty in my opinion. I hope to ceiling cat that if I ever find myself in need of a public defender that they are more competent and have a better work ethic than this one did.
The old saying, “people tend to rise to their level of incompetence,” has always seemed to have some truth to it to me.
LOL [from 4800 miles away]
Alabama is bizarre.
About 20 years ago I was traveling through, and stopped at a quick mart. My wife (a Jewish atheist) had a necklace with her name in Hebrew.
The young clerk was thrilled, and quietly whispered so no one else could hear that he was Jewish too.
Wow. What kind of a world is that place.
A coworker told me she has married friends who moved to Alabama. The wife is Italian and she faces discrimination & wants to move….honestly she isn’t white enough!
Some years ago I drove on I-75 South, taking I-59 South in Chattanooga. I stopped at the first rest stop in Alabama. I saw a stone plaque which said, “We Dare Defend Our Rights.”
I love the reference to Blackstone’s Law at a pro-life gathering. Blackstone’s Law says life begins at the quickening–when the mother can feel movement. As such, it makes abortion legal for the first four to five months of the pregnancy. In effect, Moore told a pro-life crowd that abortion should be legal for the over 95% of abortions that occur in that timeframe.
I was struck by that as well. If that were adopted by the fundies as the standard, the abortion wars would be all but over.
But later he talks about life beginning at conception. I think the safe bet is that he is anti-abortion in the first four months too, and that he threw in Blackstone just to impress his audience, either not knowing or not caring that it contradicts his position.
Probably thinks that the baby kicks at conception.
Or while the one half is still down the shaft.
Actually, I think he brings it up to show that the country is moving in the wrong direction, so to speak. He’s saying that in the past, people considered the baby’s quickening to be when life begins. Rather than move that line closer to conception (when he feels life actually begins), our society has gone the other way, using birth as the as boundary. So he’s not endorsing Blackstone’s Law, but I think he is saying it’s better than our current laws.
I just posted something similar down below without first seeing your comment. This kind of position is actually sensible and one Christopher Hitchens shared if I recall correctly. Maybe Jerry should post a new piece entitled, “Overly Religious Alabama Judge Sees the Light, Agrees with Christopher Hitchens.” You know, stir the pot a litte.
Wonder if his pro-life stance includes being anti-death penalty and anti-war, as well. Just to be consistent.
Probably not.
Once again, dumber than we can suppose.
The problem is that it is also dumber than one can easily oppose.
They have brains, but they are filled with propaganda that is connected (or not) haphazardly. It’s a veritable Gish Gallop going on in there. Reminds me of conspiracy thinkers – “gods did this” vs “governments did this”.
I’m sure, in large part, those actions were why they chose to re-elect him. Anything to stick it to the godless libruls.
How can someone who’s been removed from an office then run for that office again?
Could God make a face so big even HE couldn’t palm it?
Holy Mother of God. I think one of the fundamental problems America has had was thinking that it’s a good idea to have elections for *everything*.
Oh look… another religious redneck. *Yawn*
It would be one thing if he was a petrol pump attendant; it’s quite another seeing as he is in the Alabama Supreme Court. Anyone capable of saying “Mohammed didn’t create us” – a claim that no Muslim ever makes; is either scarily uneducated in spite of having attended college or is a cynic who knows he can get away with saying really offensive stupid stuff to rally a crowd of bigots on his home turf.
Anyone in Alabama who doesn’t think like him, and there must be many, must really hope that nothing that involves them ever comes before his bench. They won’t get justice.
Absolutely, right. Its embarrassing to say the least.
Wait a minute — if people who “found(ed) this nation” were of “all religions, all faiths,” then wouldn’t they have had widely different opinions about “God?” Now you’ve brought in the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination … along WITH their gods.
Moore would probably reject that though because bottom line his entire argument rests on the smug assumption that everybody knows that the God of Christianity (his version of Christianity) is the one and only possible God. The entire scenario smacks of a father’s authority being rejected by his children even though they’re ready and willing to take his gifts.
Well, Young Man and Little Lady, there will be no more of THAT, I promise you. You acknowledge that it’s My house, My rules or no human rights for any of you!
Fundamentalism: appealing to mental toddlers since a gazillion zillion years ago, at least.
And the Constitution mentions “God,” Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, divinity, etc…where?
Moore’s lack of understanding of the Constitution is staggering
No, Alabama cannot secede! The refugees that would invade Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi would force those states to ask the Federal Government for logistical support, and we would ALL have to pay for it. Some outside country would come in with “foreign aid” and then we would have another, perhaps even less friendly, presence within our borders! Then Federal troops would have to go in to restore peace and the US would be charged with invading a “soverign nation.” Think Putin…
I bookmarked this <2wks ago, to say something nice about Alabama, next time Alabama came up here.
At least Alabama gave us Rick Hall and the FAME studio at Muscle Shoals.
“Now,” he continued, “if technology’s supposed to increase our knowledge, how did we become so stupid?”
Funny. I was going to ask him exactly that question.
Alabama has no monopoly on right wing rhetoric. I am a biology professor in Alabama. I notice very little opposition to evolution among the young people in my class on the subject (been teaching 14 years) and I like to think I maintain an open atmosphere. I also get to teach Alabama K-12 teachers about evolution, so I’m not going anywhere.
I know bio professors elsewhere in the state who do see lots of resistance to evolution, so maybe it varies by location? I’m glad you aren’t seeing that in your classes, though. And good on you for teaching K-12 teachers; the state definitely needs that!
I’m in Mobile,so that may be part of it. I also think though it’s all in how you present things.
And continuing the bad news: The Supreme Court has just ruled that it’s ok to open government meetings with a prayer.
Cod help us, we’re becoming a theocracy.
Why is it ok to be religious but not allow people to pray,government or not. Separation of church and state is for protecting us from the influence of church in legal affairs, however, just because you pray to any god doesn’t mean you are prejudice to your beliefs over the law.
People can pray wherever they want; we just don’t want them to force everyone else to pray along with them. That is ever so rude, no?
It’s not okay because religion has a well documented history of oppressive behavior when it is mixed with Government. One day, it’s opening with a moment of silence and maybe a harmless prayer, next thing it’s the courts calling it tradition and then there’s the path towards laws catered toward religious moral guidelines. Jerry posts often about how bad this is in various Muslim countries around the world, but we really need look no further than our own country to find absurd religiously motivated legislation, such as anti-sodomy and blue laws.
Disturbing but not surprising. Anyway, I linked to this on my Blog, RetiredGuy as I think both my readers need to know about this.
I would note that Moore’s victory to the office of Chief Justice wasn’t easily won, as was incredibly close. Alabamians did not overwhelmingly elect him back to office. He won the Republican primary with a hair less than 50% of the vote, and then only beat the Democratic candidate (in heavily red AL) with 51.7% of the vote. Still a travesty, since he is in office after all, but I think it’s important to keep the details in mind in this case.
Moore is an embarrassment. But I take issue with the sentiment that rational residents of Alabama should abandon the state. Some people have the patience and strength to live in AL and work to increase education in the state, and I think they should be applauded and encouraged to keep up the good work. Non-Alabamians frequently (and rightfully) criticize AL for all of its flaws, while in the same breath often also call for the smart folks who are helping the state improve to jump ship.
Here here!!
Correct just imagine where we would be as a nation if every time adversity reared its ugly head we jumped ship instead of taking it head on.
What it would mean is that one couldn’t elevate Catholics over Protestants or vice versa, or one brand of Protestantism over others.
I point this out, not because I agree with this interpretation, but because some Christians hold (falsely I believe) that that was the original intent of the rule.
It’s not just Alabama. Georgia: guns everywhere. Oklahoma: many citizens Celebrating the botched execution. Kansas:drastic cutbacks in education. Evolution under attack in all these places. Not everyone in these places goes along, but enough to keep electing people like this.
I for one am not running. I will stay in this state and continue to fight. I might need to change my name though…. Quixotic would not be a bad last name. I urge everyone (especially fellow Alabamians) to join the FFRF!
There is a huge problem with this guy, but he’s not the main problem. If he quit tomorrow someone almost as bad would take his place. The problem is that enough people to win elections want this sort of thing in many states to vote it in. details will vary from politician to politician or place to place, but it’s basically the same in many of these states. We are up against far more than a couple of crackpot justices.
In many cases I would agree with you, but not this one. Moore is truly a stand out in the ‘bad judge’ department, and if he quit or loses reelection, it’s very likely that his replacement will be a significant improvement.
Mentally delusional states lead people to act this way. Justice Moore is insecure he will lose his way if his belief system is found out to be incorrect. Sad and insignificant is how he should feel since he embarrasses his state and ostracizes them from reason.
We Canadians look southward in shock and horror.
Any people this deluded and ignorant will surely follow their governmental/religious call-to-arms and invade their peaceful, non-religious neighbours to the North. I only hope that there is enough of a buffer zone between Alabama and Ontario, but Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and the Great Lakes don’t seem enough, given the news from New York State.
We Americans look northward with absolute shame at the actions of these religious know-nothings.
Fortunately, more and more of us are self-identifying as have either no religious affiliation or religion. Non-belief is growing, especially among the young.
How many times? He is not stupid, he has worked out how to make himself rich without doing any useful work. He is EVIL, but has to pretend to be stupid to be elected. He knows only stupid or evil people will vote for him, and there’s a lot of stupid people.
Not a surprise, as this IS in the bible belt
If I am interpreting this right, the judge is actually saying abortion is okay but not after the baby kicks. That is pretty far along in the pregnancy, so that may actually be a somewhat sensible position, certainly more sensible than “The Every Sperm is Sacred” crowd. Somehow I don’t think he’s advocating prudence after the fetus is viable though.
The truly hilarious thing about guys like this is that most of them honestly believe that Jefferson was a Christian.
What Moore and guys like him need to do is go back and re-read the Constitution.
Where do the words GOD/JESUS/HOLY/SPIRIT/DIVINE/BIBLE etc appear?
What…a…TOOL!