Jason Coleman

I read this quote in an entry on The Right Christians, who in turn were quoting an article from Sojourners.

I don’t know what to think about the people holding vigil on the steps of the Alabama supreme court building. They’re all there because they don’t want a monument to the 10 commandments removed from the lobby of the building. , and the reason given is, variously, that it would deny that God is the underpinning of all moral teaching (including the laws of Alabama), or that it would deny them their freedom to practice religion, or that the constitution never develops a separation of church and state except to protect the church from the state and not vice versa. Their motivations for lifting their religion into public life over this issue are probably a mixed bag of the first and second ways mentioned in the quote above. Some probably want to remind us that there is more to righteousness than obeying the laws of Alabama or the United States. Some probably want to claim that they’re doing the very work of God and that how we treat some gaudy engraved rock is a referendum on whether or not we’ve truly understood mankind’s obligation to God.

When I’m cynical I think these people are just trying to force there own religious views on everyone else. “We can’t make you be a Christian, but we can remind you that most of us are Christians and that you will be judged by magistrates and juries according to the current fashions of our doctrine instead of the leveled ground of civil and criminal law.” This isn’t about freedom of speech: it’s the opposite. This same group of people would be back on the courthouse steps holding a vigil to remove any monuments to Sharia law or the touchstones of any other religion. No, it looks more like it’s about getting around democracy because all these other people believing all these other things makes it too difficult for them to get the government to pander to one group of people over another like back in the good old days!

When I’m charitable, I think about the energy that these religious people are pooring into their cause. How that energy, at least in the true followers of Jesus’ teaching, springs from the desire to help lost people find their way; the desire to point damned and miserable people toward redemption. The lawyers from the ACLU press hard for civil liberties because they want to protect their own right to think and say whatever they happen to believe. That comes with the corollary that they don’t give a crap about what you or these Christians think or believe. To foster an environment where they can safely ignore everyone else, they have to guard everyone’s right to say whatever. However, when you get the diagnosis about whatever terminal disease is going to end your life, it’s not some civil liberties interest group that is going to care for you. Suddenly it’s these Christians — the same ones we had perceived as seeking to to abridge our freedoms — who are giving freely in terms of comfort and material support. At that point I’m sure the compassion shown in the hospice looms larger than any disagreement over what we’re allowed to put in the lobby.

I’d like the 10 Commandments moved out of the court house lobby because I think that huge monument does send a message about religion that, in that location, looks like it’s coming from the state. I don’t want the state having any part in telling me how to worship or revere my god because the state is run by politicians and voters: two groups I hold in low esteem. (If separating church and state means that we have to take “In God we trust” off of our money then I’m fine with that. I believe in God, but I don’t have any delusions that we do. And besides, when God firebombed Sodom and toppled the Canaanites it wasn’t because they had failed to mention Him on their currency.) I’d also like a beautiful 10 Commandments plaque to hang on the wall of the chief justice’s office. He can ponder the implications that those commandments have on our modern laws all he wants. And I think that his right to do so is also worth defending, so long as he’s all about seeking justice under the current laws of Alabama when he sits down at the bench.