I pulled into the parking lot of Heritage Community Church about 7:30 last Friday night. I had to hurry; I was already 30 minutes late for Roy Moore’s speech. If Moore’s name rings a bell but you can’t quite place who he is, a reminder is appropriate. Eight years ago, he was the chief justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court.
On Alabama’s Supreme Court building stood a 2.6-ton granite monument with the Ten Commandments engraved on it. A federal judge ordered Moore to have the monument removed.
In one of this nation’s extremely heroic displays of civil disobedience, Moore refused. An Alabama judicial ethics panel removed him as the state’s chief justice.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, who gave the ruling that ordered Moore to remove the monument, contended that it was “an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.”
Moore knows the Constitution, and knows that it says no such thing about “endorsement of religion.” Here’s how the First Amendment reads — and give it a thorough perusal any time, Judge Thompson: “CONGRESS shall make no law respecting an ESTABLISHMENT of religion, or the free exercise thereof.”
The restriction is on the federal legislature attempting to cram a state religion down the throats of an unwilling populace. Moore defied Thompson’s ruling, probably because Moore realized he’d done no such thing.
Ever since his defiance, Moore’s been a hero of mine. I interviewed him a few years back when I worked for another paper. His appearance Friday at a Severn church in Anne Arundel County was sponsored by the Institute on the Constitution, which has invited Moore to speak in this area before.
I walked in just as Moore got to the part of his speech when he was talking about the things American schoolchildren are taught, in lieu of learning about the Constitution.
Kwanzaa was one of them, and Moore called it “a made-up holiday.” He’s precisely right on that point. Kwanzaa was cobbled together by some character named Ron Everett, who went around calling himself “Maulana Ron Karenga.”
Moore then talked about the history of the U.S. Constitution, telling his listeners one of the leaders of the Constitutional Convention said it was “in the hands of God.” Without God, Moore contended, there would be no Constitution.
Here are some of my favorite highlights from Moore’s speech:
* “[Today’s elected officials] have a separation complex; they separated God from our government.”
* “Separation of church and state doesn’t mean separation of God and government.”
* Those justices who struck down a Texas law outlawing sodomy in 2003 and cited the laws in some European countries as justification should be, Moore said, “impeached.”
* “[Democrat and Republican elected officials] have got the American people thinking illegal immigration can’t be stopped. That problem can be stopped in a matter of days or weeks. They don’t want to stop it.”
* “For the president to sue Gov. Jan Brewer and the state of Arizona violates the 10th Amendment.”
Moore was talking about Arizona law SB1070, the one that allows the state’s law enforcement officers to question those who are legally stopped about their immigration status.
President Obama has acted unconstitutionally regarding SB 1070, and Moore said the president did the same when he authorized American airstrikes against Libya forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.
Oh, I like this guy, Moore. Many in the audience applauded when Michael Peroutka, the head of the Institute on the Constitution, urged Moore to run for president. But the guy would never win.
He’s way too honest.
Examiner Columnist Gregory Kane is a Pulitzer nominated news and opinion journalist who has covered people and politics from Baltimore to the Sudan.
