Cornyn Gives Senate Stage to Judge Who Refused to Follow Law
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights, chaired by Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, is scheduled to hold a hearing today on “Hostility to Religious Expression in the Public Square.” Among the witnesses is former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was dismissed from his office for refusing to obey a federal court order removing a Ten Commandments monument Moore had installed in the state judiciary building. Moore and his followers have been defiant, even though the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected his request to intervene on his behalf.
Lawbreaking Judge Celebrated by Some Religious Right Leaders, Political Allies
Roy Moore’s appearance says volumes about the misinformation likely to be peddled by some at the hearing. Moore, like other Religious Right leaders, either misunderstands or intentionally distorts the difference between protecting individuals’ freedom of religious expression and using the coercive power of government to proselytize or impose one religious viewpoint over others – which is what Roy Moore did repeatedly when he used his power as a judge to impose his religious beliefs on people seeking justice in the Alabama courts. The courts that have ruled against Roy Moore did nothing to reduce the ability of Americans to follow or promote the Ten Commandments or to worship according to the dictates of their faith and conscience; the courts acted only to protect individuals from having the government use its resources and power to endorse and promote a set of religious beliefs.
These facts have not prevented some Religious Right activists from trying to make Moore a folk hero and to use his case to build public support for weakening the separation of church and state. Unfortunately, distorting the truth about church-state separation and religious liberty is nothing new. For decades, Religious Right leaders and their political allies have wrongly claimed that the courts have thrown God/the Bible/prayer out of the public arena and public schools. Both claims are false. Public high school students are free to carry and read their Bibles, form Bible clubs if their school has an extracurricular club program, share their faith with friends, meet with other students to pray before school, say grace over lunch, and otherwise express their faith in ways that are not disruptive and not coercive to other students. What cannot be done constitutionally is to impose religious belief or practice on individuals in a captive audience setting like classrooms or at school-sponsored events – or courtrooms.
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http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=15860
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