More developments in the unending church/state debate. On the local front there was good news yesterday as Knox County commissioners voted to affirm First Amendment principles by rejecting the so-called God resolution, which “called on all citizens to recognize God as the foundation of American heritage and government.”
The story is different on the national level. Predictably, political missionaries, roused to action by Justice Moore’s dismissal for judicial misconduct, are stampeding to the federal government to rescue them from their perceived persecution. Yesterday, Vision America, in conjunction with several other political/religious groups, held a press conference to announce a petition drive campaign called “Save the Ten Commandments–God’s Contract with America.”
Vision America says its campaign
“seeks to restore our Judeo-Christian heritage, check the secularist onslaught, defend public display of the Ten Commandments and other religious symbols, oppose judicial tyranny, and support the confirmation of federal judges committed to…judicial restraint.”
Secularist onslaught? Judicial tyranny? You’d think we were in the old Soviet empire.
Let’s clear something up–despite the “secularist onslaught,” there are plenty of places to display the Ten Commandments. You can post as many replicas in your home or church as you like. Depending on where you live, you can probably display them in your front yard. Heck, you might even be able to post them at your private sector job if your employer is accomodating. The only thing the judicial tyrants have done is attempted to do is maintain publicly-owned buildings as a religiously-neutral, evangelism-free zone.
The ironic part of this all is that many of the proponents of this type of campaign are the ones who typically rail against the power of government. Yet now they act as if the very existence of their faith hinges on their ability to get the same ineffectual government to give God its stamp of approval.
One quote to illustrate the confused mindset of this effort. Here’s what Vision America President Rick Scarborough offered in the press conference:
“God often does his best work right after a crucifixion. What we saw with justice Roy Moore was a crucifixion. God will vindicate this man.”
Let me get this straight: Justice Moore, a man who snuck a two-ton monument into a building in the middle of the night and used it as a prop in a self-aggrandizing campaign, is now being likened to the crucified Jesus?
I rest my case.