WHAT PART OF "NO LAW" DON'T THEY UNDERSTAND? by Jan Ireland

WHAT PART OF "NO LAW" DON'T THEY UNDERSTAND?

By Jan Ireland

August 25, 2003

Much of the country needs a constitutional lesson, and they need it quickly. The state of Alabama has become ground zero for a constitutional fight, the significance of which escapes most of the country. It is possible that we are approaching a quiet pre-Armageddon. Without fanfare, in a climate of political correctness run amok, we could be on the way to giving up a right more precious than we seem able to realize. The right to acknowledge God.

I would venture that most people in the nation, educated or not, religious or not, think "separation of church and state" is constitutional law.

It is not. It is not even regular law. Thomas Jefferson gave us the phrase, in a letter to a religious group in 1802. The Bill of Rights, in which the First Amendment rests, were ratified in 1791, a decade prior.

The First Amendment actually says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; …" There is more (speech, press, assembly, petition to redress), but the fight in Alabama concerns this first phrase.

There is a penchant of many to quote the First Amendment through the comma, leaving out "…or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; …". (Grammar rules aren't the headiest of studies.) But the two parts need each other. Together they form a right reserved by the Founding Fathers for us, through foresight which can only be termed prescient. It is possible to imagine that they foresaw exactly what is happening in Alabama today.

Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Judge Roy Moore was elected on campaign promises to acknowledge God, and to remember that the Ten Commandments were the basis of our United States Constitution, as well as the Alabama Constitution. He has been, and is, doing exactly that. Two years ago, he had a monument installed in a public area. That monument has quotes from several historic documents - including the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, the Alabama Constitution, and the Ten Commandments.

Tens of thousands of supporters have clearly voiced their approval of the judge's actions. 22 in one morning went to jail rather than desert his cause. Online petitions have delivered a multitude of approving signatures across the nation.

But even if that approval were not there, Judge Roy Moore would still be doing the correct thing. He is, in fact, doing the constitutional thing. The estimable Dr. Alan Keyes has several times reminded us of the quite simple truth. Dr. Keyes asks to be shown the law that Judge Moore is supposed to be breaking. Obviously, Dr. Keyes knows the law cannot be shown, because the Constitution is very clear. Congress, it says, will make NO law concerning that issue.

Unfortunately, judges over time, even Supreme Court judges, have constructed such a "wall." Judges are human, and judges have erred. Judges once ruled that slavery was the law of the land. Do we follow that "law" today? Thomas Jefferson also said, "The opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch."

How portentous those words of Jefferson may turn out to be.

The trappings of political correctness have inured us to protesting. The few who volubly dissent, are drowned out by the inaction of the unaware. Our legislatures have forgotten that they are one of three equal branches, and are meekly accepting the personal agendas some activist judges are forcing on America. As a nation, we have begun to accept rulings we know are wrong, perhaps only for the silly reason of avoiding scorn.

Evidence that the Ten Commandments are the basis of our legal system can clearly be seen in our laws and judicial process. Evidence that its influence permeated our society (at least until groups like the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, got footholds) is all around us. Behind the seats of the nine justices of the nation's Supreme Court is a marble display of, you guessed it, the Ten Commandments. "In God We Trust" is on our money. "So Help Me God" is how we tell a court we will be truthful.

In the recent past, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals tried to see the Pledge of Allegiance as unconstitutional. A religious plaque that had been at the Grand Canyon for decades was challenged. The Boy Scouts have been barred from using public land. Nativity scenes have been erased from public view. Christmas Vacation has been renamed Winter Break. Principals have refused to allow students to start the day by saying the Pledge of Allegiance in publicly funded schools. State supreme courts have mocked written, settled, legislated law. Public schools are turning out students who can barely read, much less be aware of the intricacies of the Constitution.

This issue has been categorized as "right-wing religious extremist" in many reports. I heard a vacuous airhead on a mainstream media "news" show derisively ask if the Judge would allow a statue of Mohammed in the rotunda. The pesky perkies miss the constitutional point. Congress shall make no law on this issue, so the decision then falls to the people of the state. Alabamians could decide to erect a statue of Mohammed, as many places have erected statues of Greek gods.

Think this article sounds a specious alarm? At this writing, it has just been reported that an interfaith group called the American Clergy Leadership Conference is calling for Christian churches everywhere to remove their crosses - since Christian crosses represent oppression, bigotry, and perceived superiority.

Whether you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, agnostic, or the ubiquitous other - some facts are unassailable.

In 1954, the legislature inserted "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance. Since then, several things have happened.

It was one nation, under God, that put a man on the moon; that traversed segregation and emerged on the side of freedom; that endured Vietnam; that survived the Communist Party's attempted infiltration; that won the cold war; that recovered from 9-11.

It is one nation, under God, that Cubans risk their very lives to float to; that Mexicans risk death from heat exhaustion to be driven to; that millions from virtually every corner of the globe spend lives and heartache to get to.

And it is one nation, under God, that is now leading the fight in the war against terrorism - possibly the last, best hope for the survival of the world.

Whether we are religious or not, whether we go to church or not, the right to acknowledge God is central to the history of America.

We'd better be sure what part of "no law" we don't understand. And we'd better pray that Congress makes no law about religion.