7:35 p.m. - 2003-01-31
Religious Zealots
Ah, Judge Roy Moore. He's the man I love to hate, and once again I dream of being a vampire because he makes me so...hungry.

All you folks who live in civilised places probably have not heard of the illustrious Judge Moore. He is the Chief Justice of the Alabama State Supreme Court. He is also the so-called "10 Commandments Judge", since he snuck a huge monumental block with the Ten Commandments carved into it into the lobby of the Courthouse of the Alabama Supreme Court. Yeah, I said snuck. Like in the middle of the night.

"Roy's Rock", it's called, and he claims it is there because the ten commandments are the foundation of all law. It's not a religious thing, you see!! It's a history of law thing, and therefore perfectly acceptable!! So I guess that's why he had to sneak it in, because it's so perfectly acceptable. Fortunately the Federal courts have not agreed, and so Judge Moore may soon be forced to remove his nifty historical sculpture.

In the meantime, he is busy raising controversy once again. This week he announced that there is a link between September 11th and what he sees as a 40 year erosion of religious rights, including his right to display the oh-so-acceptable-because-they-are-not-really-religious-no-sir ten commandments in a court of law. While totally obnoxious this has also been a source of amusement to me, since our local paper has a call line where anyone can call in anonymously and rave on about any item of news. The calls are printed exactly as they come in, with no editing. Needless to say, Judge Moore has inspired a lot of raving on both sides of the argument.

On Monday several people called in:

"I saw where Judge Roy Moore sees the religious erosion and a 9/11 link. I'm about sick of hearing what that man has to say about religion. I don't recognise his authority to to speak for God. I also don't recognise his authority to speak for anything except the law. If he can't do that, throw him out of office! That way we won't have to listen to one more word from him."

My sentiments exactly!

The next caller:

"There is a religious link to 9/11. It shows what happens when you put a bunch of religious fundamentalists in charge of a government and give them absolute control."

Well, I would certainly agree with that.

"Judge Roy Moore misinterprets our Constitution. He says it has been about 40 years since God was taken out of the public. Well, yeah, wasn't it about 40 years ago that God was added to our money and added to the Pledge of Allegiance? I think that is where our country went wrong. Our Constitution guarantees freedom of religion meaning we are free to choose which religion we want to participate in, not to have one man's version of religion forced upon us. It does not say that our rights were given us by God, but by our creator. Well, my creator was my parents!"

Mmmmmm, and how did they create you, my dear?

Ooooh, oops, back to the calls. This one is from someone who evidently has no problem with right wing religious zealots:

"About Judge Roy Moore: He is one of the best men in the country and he stands up for what is right. You mean-hearted liberals at the Huntspatch Times don't know what you're talking about. You let everybody talk for you and I'm tired of this paper and I can't wait for another one. It won't be long now!"

Um, yeah! Wot he said! Urr, um, maybe not.What IS he saying?

And another supporter:

"I don't see why people have such a hard time writing about Judge Moore. He reminds me of Noah. If you read that story in Genesis you'll see what Judge Roy Moore is all about."

NOAH??!! Like with the ANIMALS?! Huh??!

previous - next