Secular Bullies, Pushing God Into Hiding
By Steve Farrell (10/15/04)
The Ten Commandments are finally having their day before the Supreme Court, but as former Alabama Chief Justice Ray Moore notes, it’s for all the wrong reasons.
The plaintiffs have taken a unique approach. Their Ten Commandments monuments are historic in nature, they assert that they are part of larger displays of documents with historical significance, and as such, are constitutionally protected from ACLU hunt and destroy missions.
That is, their safe because their motives are secular, not religious.
The Southern Poverty Law Center agrees. They contend that in “neither of these … cases is there concrete evidence out of the mouth of the defendant that he has religious motives,” and so they can sympathize with their cause.
That’s reassuring. And if there WAS concrete evidence, or even a hint of evidence, like ‘so and so is an active Christian,’ what would their position be then? They and their liberal pals would be all over it, you can bet on it. And well, the liberals are anyway.
But even if the Ten Commandments advocates win this time, there’s something wrong with this whole picture, isn’t there?
As I see it, these secular socialists are telling us if you believe in God, if you believe in a clear connection between American law and the Ten Commandments, if you believe it vital that our children and our children’s children understand that connection in the interest of perpetuating the very foundation of the best government, the best set of laws mankind has ever known—you can hold firm to those beliefs, and perhaps be ‘free’ to share them with others (in a very limited, monitored-by-the-state fashion) if you HIDE them, if you RE-CATEGORIZE them, if you LIE about them, and then, IF ONLY the God’s in Robes at the Supreme Court say you can.
This isn’t about neutrality, but hostility toward religion, for neutral is not neutral if you insist that non-neutrals be neutral. And it’s not just about posting the Ten Commandments, but about religious motives in general, in any public venue, on any public issue. Hide your faith. Lie about your motives. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll see something that resembles a public manifestation of freedom of religion, in a direct or indirect way, but not really.
And if you get caught lying, and if you dare come out and tell the truth and assert your faith and the wrong person hears you, they really have a sweet deal for you.
Plain and simple: ‘Hang your head in shame; turn in your commission; throw away your robe; resign from the school district; get out of Dodge! You are a villain of the worst stripe, a Neanderthal, a throw back, an outcast, maybe even a mere serial number in a prison cell, just ask Justice Moore. We took care of him.’
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.
You can’t declare to Christians and Jews that they possess freedom of religion and freedom of speech, so long as you demand that they shut up, so long as you demand that they hide their light and their faith under a bushel, so long as you demand that they never legislate according to their core values, according as their conscience directs. Or so long as they lie.
But maybe that’s what these secularists, these socialists want, a nation full of moral cowards and liars, a nation full of people who values are as empty, as meaningless, as chickenhearted as their own.
And thus a nation which can hardly stay free, because free governments void of moral citizens, void of citizens who comprehend the religious and moral roots of their own laws, or of that stabilizing class of Higher Laws which gave them their inalienable rights, self destruct. And isn’t that the point? Isn’t that what these secular socialists want?
Think about it. They want to push God into hiding. You know it, and I know it.
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