Judge Moore

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Judge Moore And The Ten Commandments

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In Gadsden, Alabama, Etowah County Circuit Judge Roy S. Moore has a framed copy of his favorite version of the Ten Commandments of the Christian religion on the courtroom wall. He also begins every jury organization session with a prayer led by a 'Bible-believing' pastor. This, he informs prospective jurors, is voluntary in the sense that, if they are of another faith and are not embarrassed by making a public spectacle of themselves, they are allowed to leave the room.

Judge Moore has not complied with court orders to remove the Commandments and stop the sectarian public prayer. The state governor and other state politicians support Moore, to the extent that the Governor offered to call out the National Guard to protect Judge Moore from having to comply with the court order. On March 5^th, 1997, the US Congress passed a resolution, House Concurrent Resolution 31 commending Judge Moore and singling out the Ten Commandments, and, by implication, the Christian religion, as the cornerstone of a just and fair society, and encouraging display of the Ten Commandments.

A conservative Christian organization, the Christian Family Association, was formed in support of Judge Moore. It is active in trying to have their preferred version of the Ten Commandments posted in public buildings. In Menominee county, Michigan, located on the Wisconsin/Michigan border, Christian Family Association member Dennis Pape began a campaign to have the Ten Commandments posted in local buildings. So far, his only success has been in the case of the Menominee township hall, a tiny building out in the country used for township board meetings.

However, conservative Christianity is not the only religion practiced within the United States, and there are many non-Christian ones. Here is my short list: Asatru, Bahai, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Native American religions, Taoism, Wicca, and Zoroastrianism. To single out conservative Christianity is to treat all non-Christians and all non-conservative Christians as second class citizens. So, in response to Dennis Pape's Menominee county campaign, a new voice arose for religious freedom.

A request was put before the Menominee township board, as well as other boards approached by Pape, to give equal treatment to the Asatru religion and its code of morals, the Nine Noble Virtues. The Menominee township board, being composed of fairminded believers in religious freedom, realized they had no morally sound option other than to approve the posting of the Nine Noble Virtues. This was done, and the framed copy of the Nine Noble Virtues now stand alongside the Ten Commandments, a monument to American religious freedom and a memorial to those who died throughout the ages as victims of religious persecution.

The Nine Noble Virtues Campaign sprang from this incident. It does not seek to push forward the views of the Asatru religion at the expense of the religious freedom of others, as Christian Religious Right groups do in their attempt to get this country declared a 'Christian Nation'. Instead, it merely vows that wherever the Christian religion is being publically singled out and promoted, the Asatru religion, and its Nine Noble Virtues, will be given equal treatment, as eventually, all religions will. This is a new voice, a new approach, to the religious controversies being thrust on us by the Christian Religious Right. In the past, when conservative Christianity has been challenged, it has been in the form of requests to stop praying publically, to remove public emblems of Christianity, whether they be Ten Commandment plaques or Nativity scenes. Conservative Christians believe this constitutes denial of their freedom of religion. So, instead, we are giving them a new choice. Are they going to treat Asatru, and, by implication, all other religions, no matter how obscure, with equality? Or are they going to come out and admit they don't want to be fair to some religions? Conservative Christians will either have to do the right, moral thing, or be seen publically as bullies and persecutors.

So, now it's up to you. Are you going to sit home and moan about the Religious Right? Or are you going to get up off your butt and do something, even something as small as writing a letter?

The fate of religious freedom is up to you!

What can you do? Join the Nine Noble Virtues Campaign!

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Nissa, PO Box 151, Daggett, MI 49821 USA