On May 6, 2004, at the request of the Atheist Law Center of Alabama,I made the following presentation on the South lawn of the Capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama, the city in which former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from office in regard to his Ten Commandments monument, which, in disobedience of court orders, he refused to remove from the rotunda of the Alabama state judicial building.
My Fellow Americans:
In 1787, in Philadelphia, fifty-five men, known as the "Founding Fathers," drafted the Constitution for the United States of America. In 1788 that written Constitution became the supreme law of the land, the basis of our law and our government. That Constitution created a nation, one nation, under law, under constitutional law.
PREAMBLE:
WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish THIS Constitution for the United States of America.
THE 1787 Constitution was an agreement by "we the people." Fundamental to an understanding
of what America is about is understanding that America's basic law is a written agreement
between "we the people," all of us, men and women, of all races, of all religions, and
of no religion. The struggle for fully understanding "we the people" has obviously existed
from the foundation of this great nation. From
ARTICLE VI., SECTION (2):
THIS Constitution ... shall be the SUPREME LAW of the land; and the JUDGES in EVERY STATE shall be bound thereby, ANYTHING in the constitution or laws of ANY STATE to the contrary NOTWITHSTANDING."
The word "notwithstanding" is a common legalese term which means despite, or in spite of. In other words, in spite of anything in the constitution, or laws, including the preambles, of any state, THIS Constitution for the United States of America "SHALL BE the SUPREME LAW of the land; and the JUDGES in every state SHALL BE BOUND thereby," that is, bound by the Constitution for the United States of America. What part of "notwithstanding" or what part of "JUDGES in every state" does Roy Moore not understand?
ARTICLE VI., SECTION (3):
The Senators and Representatives ... AND the members of the several STATE legislatures, AND ALL EXECUTIVE and JUDICIAL officers, BOTH of the United States AND of the several STATES, SHALL BE BOUND by oath or affirmation, to support THIS Constitution; but NO RELIGIOUS TEST shall ever be required as a qualification to ANY office or public trust UNDER THE UNITED STATES.
In 1787 the Founding Fathers wrote America's FIRST religion commandment into the Constitution and commanded that under the United States "NO" religion test shall ever be required. What part of "NO" does Roy Moore not understand? In 1789 James Madison drafted and in 1791 the United States of America added the second and third religion commandments of the Constitution.
FIRST AMENDMENT:
Congress shall make NO LAW respecting an establishment of RELIGION, or PROHIBITING the free exercise thereof; or ABRIDGING the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of THE PEOPLE peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The Founding Fathers said it is a "religious" test which shall not be required, not a church test; AND, in terms of the Constitutions second religion commandment, the no Establishment Clause, the First Congress said it is "religion" which shall not be established by law or Congress, not just a church. The word "church" is not in the Constitution, so stop using the words "church and state." The words "church and state" distort the meaning of the Constitution's religion commandments. The proper terminology, as James Madison wrote, is "separation between Religion and Government."
The Constitution's third religion commandment, relating to the free exercise of religion, is not a license for anarchy and is understood by the word "prohibiting," which means totally. The exercise of religion cannot be totally prohibited. The exercise of religion is NOT understood by the word "abridging," which means reducing. It is speech, press, peaceable assembly, and petition which cannot be abridged or reduced; but, all action, including the exercise of religion, can be reduced and is subject to the laws of the land made by "we the people" (Reynolds v. U.S., 1879, and Davis v. Beason, 1890). Are you listening, Roy Moore?
In 1954, thumbing its nose at the First Amendment, Congress passed a law, Public Law 396, signed
by
From its beginning, the Constitution for the United States has been subject to amendment. Every amendment becomes a part of the supreme law of the land and amends all previous understanding of constitutional law. Contrary to "states rights" advocates, the Constitution does not end with the Tenth Amendment.
FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT:
ALL PERSONS born or naturalized in the United States ... are CITIZENS of the United States AND of the State wherein they reside. NO STATE shall make or enforce ANY law, which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of CITIZENS of the United States; nor shall ANY STATE deprive ANY person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to ANY person within its jurisdiction the EQUAL protection of the laws.
What part of "NO STATE" does Roy Moore not understand?
Roy Moore says, "federal courts have no right to interfere in states' acknowledgments of God." To the contrary, all courts, federal and state, are obligated to uphold the supreme law of the land and "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge" (reduce) the right of any citizen of the United States to be free from religion established by law or by the coercive power of government. That, my fellow Americans, is a great part of what America is all about. In America religion is to be voluntary. What good is religion if not voluntary? Voluntarism in matters of religion is the essence of the religion commandments of the Constitution: no test, no law, and no tax money for support of religion--taxes are not given voluntarily.
The Constitution is the foundation of government and law in the United States of America. I am here today to say that the Constitution's words are Roy Moore's worst nightmare because in its words he cannot find mention of the Ten Commandments, the Bible, or theocracy. Here are some other words which Roy Moore has never found: "Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history" (James Madison, "Father of the Constitution," as found in Madison's essay known as "Detached Memoranda," William and Mary Quarterly, 3:555). Go to a college library and read James Madison.
Are you listening, Roy Moore?