Ten Commandments unconstitutional!

[MrFun]

Originally posted by jimmytrick
I am all for throwing out the separation of Church and State and establishing the USA as a Christian nation.

I hope you're joking.

[St Leo]

Ten Commandments unconstitutional!

This is a sensationalistic headline. The Ten Commandments, the Eightfold Path, and whatever other numerological nonsense you can come up with is still constitutional and is likely to remain so for as long as the US exists.

[Imran Siddiqui]

In two appeals to the Supreme Court, Moore argued that lower federal courts do not have authority over a state’s chief justice.

Obviously Judge Moore has not realized that the First Amendment has been extended to the states .

i'm sure you didn't mean to suggest that canon law is the basis of american civil law?

Actually a LOT of canon law has formed somewhat of a basis of American law. Canon law was the first place you had legal rights to confront your accusers, etc (as long as you were a believer, of course).

American law is influenced by canon law and Judeo-Christian ethic, as well as pagan Roman law (which influenced canon law) and pagan Greek law, etc, etc.

[molly bloom]

Chegitz- American law is derived more from Anglo-Saxon and Norse origins. Scottish law derives from a more 'Roman' model, as does French.

Jimmytrick, if you're happy to see the United States 'refounded' as an avowedly Christian nation, then just make sure you belong to the right variant of Christianity.

Up until 1835, anti-Catholic laws were in existence in American states- the erection of the Washington Monument also being delayed by the anti-Catholic 'Know Nothing' movement offended by the gift of a block of marble from Pope Pius IX.

And as MTG pointed out (in a case I was also familiar with) being a peace loving Quaker wasn't a bar to the God loving Puritans deciding that if you crossed the town boundaries, you'd find yourself doing a mid air jig.
Poor Mary Dyer of Newport, Rhode Island- hanged on Boston Common, on June 1. She had already watched the public execution of two fellow Quakers. The only female Christian martyr in the United States- killed by fellow Christians. Ironic.

At the time of his signing of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll was banned from holding public office in his home state of Maryland because he was a Catholic.

Similarly, Jews first came to the northern colonies in 1624, when two Jewish men and one woman arrived in Virginia. Although there were approximately 1 500 Jews in the Colonies on the eve of the revolution, in none of the colonies were they allowed to hold office or vote.

[Berzerker]

The SCOTUS is a joke!

It will undoubtedly rule the pledge of allegiance is constitutional, thereby informing us that the state has the constitutional power to coerce our children into affirming a religious belief they and we may or may not share, but declare some guy's monument to the 10 Commandments unconstitutional when it makes no demand on us to do anything.

Okay kids, stand up and affirm a belief in "god" because the state says so - and that's constitutional - but a piece of stone is unconstitutional? They got it backwards...

[Berzerker]

And as MTG pointed out (in a case I was also familiar with) being a peace loving Quaker wasn't a bar to the God loving Puritans deciding that if you crossed the town boundaries, you'd find yourself doing a mid air jig.

I forget the comedian's name, but she said the pilgrims came here to escape religious persecution, but her ancestors, the puritans came here because they weren't allowed to persecute others enough.

[Giancarlo]

THIS IS A SECULAR COUNTRY, so it was damn well a constitutional violation to have that stone placed in a government building. Ben, you are baseless as usual your accusations. What about atheists, buddhists, muslims and other people who live in this country?

[Berzerker]

THIS IS A SECULAR COUNTRY, so it was damn well a constitutional violation to have that stone placed in a government building.

Why? What exact provision in the Constitution says people can't have religious monuments/icons on public property?

Ben, you are baseless as usual your accusations. What about atheists, buddhists, muslims and other people who live in this country?

What about them? That piece of stone requires something of them? Hardly... it's a piece of stone...

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Berzerker


Why? What exact provision in the Constitution says people can't have religious monuments/icons on public property?

Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli. Which was adopted by the US Congress, and signed by President John Adams in 1797.

What about them? That piece of stone requires something of them? Hardly... it's a piece of stone...

Keep this trash away from public places so all of us can be respected. You have no right to infringe on the rights of others who do not believe in the same beliefs you do.

[Q Classic]

Actually a LOT of canon law has formed somewhat of a basis of American law. Canon law was the first place you had legal rights to confront your accusers, etc (as long as you were a believer, of course).

American law is influenced by canon law and Judeo-Christian ethic, as well as pagan Roman law (which influenced canon law) and pagan Greek law, etc, etc.

well, what i gather from che's original statement was that our laws stem from the traditions of the roman empire. it's still funny, though, to say that it's from "rome", or the "latinate", since those are more often used for canon law than secular civil law.

[Berzerker]

Fez -

Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli. Which was adopted by the US Congress, and signed by President John Adams in 1797.

Where in that treaty have you found a provision forbidding the placement of religious monuments/icons on public property? That's quite an argument there given the fact some of the states had established religions at the time and for years aftwerward. That treaty said the US was not a Christian "nation", it didn't say the US was a communist nation...

Keep this trash away from public places so all of us can be respected. You have no right to infringe on the rights of others who do not believe in the same beliefs you do.

How does that piece of stone violate your rights? Since we don't share all beliefs, do I now have the right to instruct the state to remove you from public property when you express an opinion I don't share?

[The Templar]

Originally posted by jimmytrick
I am all for throwing out the separation of Church and State and establishing the USA as a Christian nation.

I'm all for declaring this a non-religious nation and throwing all of the Christians out. (maybe out to the lions ... ).

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Q Cubed

Our legal system is based on Rome, not Jerusalem.

i'm sure you didn't mean to suggest that canon law is the basis of american civil law?

Yea, whoever has the most cannons makes the law.

[Berzerker]

a variant of the golden rule?

[Imran Siddiqui]

It will undoubtedly rule the pledge of allegiance is constitutional, thereby informing us that the state has the constitutional power to coerce our children into affirming a religious belief they and we may or may not share, but declare some guy's monument to the 10 Commandments unconstitutional when it makes no demand on us to do anything.

No they have it quite right. The Pledge is not required and if anything is a de minimis restriction on the freedom of religion. Placing a ton of concrete with the 10 Commandments in front of a STATE COURTHOUSE, with the intent to proclaim this is a 'Christian nation', is an establishment.