Published: March 18, 2012 Updated: March 18, 2012 - 6:00 AM » Comments | Post a Comment This is not an argument against the Ten Commandments. But government’s intervention in regards to religion is a dangerous, slippery slope.State Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville, proposed an amendment in the State Legislature last week that would re-write Alabama’s Constitution and allow public schools or other public bodies the right to display the Ten Commandments. Basically, the amendment says the schools’, or bodies’, right to display the Ten Commandments would not be “restrained or abridged.”Dial’s plan passed in committee last Tuesday. It was ruled in 2002 that a Ten Commandments monument installed in the Alabama state judicial building was unconstitutional as it “violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban of a state establishment of religion.”Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who won Tuesday’s Republican primary in an effort to re-gain his seat, was removed from his seat in 2006 over this issue. The timing of Moore’s election victory and this amendment’s passage in committee raises eyebrows.Government needs to leave religion alone. Jesus instructed us to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.” We would do well to remember that.History has shown us time and again what happens when government and religion begin to mix and none of those examples have gone well, for the governments nor for religion. The quickest, most certain way to erode religious and civil freedoms is to allow politicians too much time in the pulpit or allow preachers to dictate morality outside of their own congregations.We are a country and a state made up of many religious traditions. Diversity is our strength. No one is being discriminated against by deciding not to add more religious symbolism to governmental buildings. However, when you start putting the Ten Commandments inside schools, what’s going to happen when Muslim students, parents or educators demand equal access?What if there happens to be a principal at a school who just happens to be Buddhist and decides a statute of Buddha would be a good addition to the school’s administrative offices?Do we really want the folks on Goat Hill deciding exactly which God the rest of us should recognize on public property?Current Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Chuck Malone, who was beaten by Moore in Tuesday’s Republican primary and is a deacon at First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, recently told the Opelika-Auburn News that the Ten Commandments should not be on display in government buildings if that is what the federal government demands. He did say, however, that the Ten Commandments should instead be instilled in our hearts.Last we checked, the federal government has no access to our personal thoughts or beliefs. Let’s keep it that way.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Religion, state government should not be mixed
By: OANow Staff | Opelika-Auburn News
Published: March 18, 2012 Updated: March 18, 2012 - 6:00 AM » Comments | Post a Comment This is not an argument against the Ten Commandments. But government’s intervention in regards to religion is a dangerous, slippery slope.State Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville, proposed an amendment in the State Legislature last week that would re-write Alabama’s Constitution and allow public schools or other public bodies the right to display the Ten Commandments. Basically, the amendment says the schools’, or bodies’, right to display the Ten Commandments would not be “restrained or abridged.”Dial’s plan passed in committee last Tuesday. It was ruled in 2002 that a Ten Commandments monument installed in the Alabama state judicial building was unconstitutional as it “violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban of a state establishment of religion.”Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who won Tuesday’s Republican primary in an effort to re-gain his seat, was removed from his seat in 2006 over this issue. The timing of Moore’s election victory and this amendment’s passage in committee raises eyebrows.Government needs to leave religion alone. Jesus instructed us to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.” We would do well to remember that.History has shown us time and again what happens when government and religion begin to mix and none of those examples have gone well, for the governments nor for religion. The quickest, most certain way to erode religious and civil freedoms is to allow politicians too much time in the pulpit or allow preachers to dictate morality outside of their own congregations.We are a country and a state made up of many religious traditions. Diversity is our strength. No one is being discriminated against by deciding not to add more religious symbolism to governmental buildings. However, when you start putting the Ten Commandments inside schools, what’s going to happen when Muslim students, parents or educators demand equal access?What if there happens to be a principal at a school who just happens to be Buddhist and decides a statute of Buddha would be a good addition to the school’s administrative offices?Do we really want the folks on Goat Hill deciding exactly which God the rest of us should recognize on public property?Current Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Chuck Malone, who was beaten by Moore in Tuesday’s Republican primary and is a deacon at First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, recently told the Opelika-Auburn News that the Ten Commandments should not be on display in government buildings if that is what the federal government demands. He did say, however, that the Ten Commandments should instead be instilled in our hearts.Last we checked, the federal government has no access to our personal thoughts or beliefs. Let’s keep it that way.
Terms and Conditions
Published: March 18, 2012 Updated: March 18, 2012 - 6:00 AM » Comments | Post a Comment This is not an argument against the Ten Commandments. But government’s intervention in regards to religion is a dangerous, slippery slope.State Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville, proposed an amendment in the State Legislature last week that would re-write Alabama’s Constitution and allow public schools or other public bodies the right to display the Ten Commandments. Basically, the amendment says the schools’, or bodies’, right to display the Ten Commandments would not be “restrained or abridged.”Dial’s plan passed in committee last Tuesday. It was ruled in 2002 that a Ten Commandments monument installed in the Alabama state judicial building was unconstitutional as it “violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban of a state establishment of religion.”Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who won Tuesday’s Republican primary in an effort to re-gain his seat, was removed from his seat in 2006 over this issue. The timing of Moore’s election victory and this amendment’s passage in committee raises eyebrows.Government needs to leave religion alone. Jesus instructed us to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.” We would do well to remember that.History has shown us time and again what happens when government and religion begin to mix and none of those examples have gone well, for the governments nor for religion. The quickest, most certain way to erode religious and civil freedoms is to allow politicians too much time in the pulpit or allow preachers to dictate morality outside of their own congregations.We are a country and a state made up of many religious traditions. Diversity is our strength. No one is being discriminated against by deciding not to add more religious symbolism to governmental buildings. However, when you start putting the Ten Commandments inside schools, what’s going to happen when Muslim students, parents or educators demand equal access?What if there happens to be a principal at a school who just happens to be Buddhist and decides a statute of Buddha would be a good addition to the school’s administrative offices?Do we really want the folks on Goat Hill deciding exactly which God the rest of us should recognize on public property?Current Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Chuck Malone, who was beaten by Moore in Tuesday’s Republican primary and is a deacon at First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, recently told the Opelika-Auburn News that the Ten Commandments should not be on display in government buildings if that is what the federal government demands. He did say, however, that the Ten Commandments should instead be instilled in our hearts.Last we checked, the federal government has no access to our personal thoughts or beliefs. Let’s keep it that way.
