The American Spectator

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(Page 2 of 14)

: /p> p>George Neumayr's "Holy Moses" piece was on target, as usual. The notion that our great republic was founded by men who wished to establish a secular government with no accommodation for public religious expression can only be supported by historical revisionism and an out-of-control judiciary. This and the nonsensical idea that our Constitution is a "living document" are nothing more than tools used by secularists to enable jurists to manipulate our founding document for the purpose of advancing their personal preferences. Thomas Jefferson's warning has been validated, "The Constitution [will become] a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please." The only guarantee of our liberties lies with interpretation rooted in the clear language and intent of those who wrote the words. Any other yields a Constitution whose words have no meaning since five unelected judges can change or ignore them according to their own predilections. The Founders would not have tolerated this. We need to heed Jefferson's words about establishing the Supreme Court as the final authority on any matter brought before it, "[T]o consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions [is] a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. ... The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal." If a former generation had succumbed to the current angst over judicial pronouncements, the view that they are to be treated as direct communication from the Almighty Himself, slavery might still be legal in this country ( Dred Scott , 1857). br> -- Rick Arand br> Lee's Summit, Missouri /p>

"And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration and own and profess the Protestant religion.'"

Ah, the good old days. If only such a profession were still obligatory for office-seekers in America, what a wonderful world this would be.

And why not dismantle allegorical depictions of mythological figures on courthouses? the writer asks. When some extremist decides we should all profess the religion of Zeus, the one true God, maybe people will get up in arms about that. But as it stands, a mild state religion (pledging allegiance to the Flag and to the Republic for which it stands; myths about Founders who "could not tell a lie"; allegories of the goddess Justice in marble friezes) is a way to maintain some social cohesion and devotion to ideals of freedom and equality without becoming like the fanatics, fundamentalists and barbarians we are currently at war with. I suggest you join their lot if you think a hard-core state religion is such a genius idea.

p>This writer clearly knows very, very little about America's Founders. I suggest he read about their religious beliefs and then report back about what he's found after he's Enlightened, so to speak. br> -- Luke Simon

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