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Out 'Yonder'
by Steven Mahone
| Author and poet Langston Hughes once asked, "Say man, whatcha doin' way out yonder where us folks ain't?" This, it seems to me, is precisely where James Dobson is steering his Focus on the Family empire and its (unsuspecting?) supporters. Especially when you consider the self-serving interpretation that Dobson has expressed concerning the Constitutional guarantees that our great nation affords to all its citizens. |
Dr. Dobson recently had Judge Roy Moore and Alan Keyes (conservative Presidential hopeful) on his daily radio program to address the nation's faithful and to inform them of the "Constitutional crisis" that is ongoing in the state of Alabama involving Judge Moore and his display of the Ten Commandments. The crisis, as it turns out, is due mostly to the fact that this is 2003 and not 1863. |
Dr. Dobson insists that if an acknowledgement of (his) God is removed from the public square then this is going to lead to the moral ruin of our society and will usher in an unabated loss of the religious freedoms enjoyed by all Americans (especially Dobson's contributors.) Apparently, it's not enough for Dr. Dobson's cause that our freedoms already accommodate a church being located on every other street corner in this country and that anyone can turn on the radio, TV, or Internet and hear the "good news" at anytime they wish. Dr. Dobson, instead, feels that it's necessary to aid his infinitely powerful God with a little constitutional nepotism. |
Alan Keyes claims that it's not only (his) religion that is being assaulted in this country but that the very Constitution itself is under attack! His rationale for this position is that the First Amendment ensures that the Federal Government can't establish a religion but that the Feds have no business telling the states what they can or can't do concerning such matters. According to Dr. Keyes, it's state's rights that reign supreme even when it comes at the expense of trumping the individual freedoms granted to us all in the Bill of Rights. When you ponder how such Constitutional rhetoric can be justified you'll simply have to turn a blind eye to the Fourteenth Amendment: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;" Admittedly (and in deference to Dr. Keyes) this amendment was ratified post 1863. |
The downtrodden Judge Moore insists that the Constitution of the State of Alabama requires that he acknowledge the laws of (Alabama's?) God before he can properly carry out his duties. Therefore, he felt wholly justified in employing the services of a Florida mega-ministry to place the Judeo/Christian commandments in the Alabama Supreme Court rotunda. However, if you follow Judge Moore's reasoning to fruition then any Alabama citizen that doesn't recognize "Alabama's God" would be disqualified to act as an official public servant in the state. This sure seems like it would conflict with Article VI of the U.S. Constitution which clearly stipulates that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the United States." Judge Moore couldn't possibly be unaware of this Constitutional precept, could he? |
Dobson, Keyes, and Moore are wrong in their stance on the display of the Ten Commandments in an Alabama courthouse. They're wrong not because of what they believe but because of the principles they are willing to compromise in order to get what they want. Imagine the disrespect it would foster if all public transportation halted at sundown on the Jewish Sabbath. Consider the outrage that would build if the call to Muslim prayer sounded each day after an Islamic believing justice was appointed to the bench. And what about the anger that would ensue if the city council posted a plaque in Town Hall that proclaimed "Believe as you like, but there is no god." |
Each and every one of these coercive maneuvers is unacceptable for exactly the same reason - because they violate the founding principles that protect us all. We can't afford to compromise these principles and risk taking the path to "way out yonder", where no Alabaman, and no American, wants to be. |
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