Blasphemy Revisited

What’s all this crap we’re hearing about Alabama? In a largely symbolic gesture, some courthouse in Alabama was ordered by US federal courts to remove a tall, granite monument of the Ten Commandments from the lobby. Predictably, this pissed off plenty of Christians, who have resolved to set things right and to get that TWO TON slab of granite back on public display by holding daily rallies, chanting slogans, and basking in the media frenzy they’ve been causing. Okay, so I may regard this story with a certain amount of less-than-subtle disdain, but I honestly do sympathize for the supporters of the monument. I would imagine that if US federal courts had ordered the removal of a public symbol that belonged to any other faith–be it Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or otherwise–members of that faith would be just as offended. If I still aligned myself with the Christians, I might have found the ruling to be hurtful, blasphemous, and needlessly antagonistic…but only at first. Let’s move beyond the initial emotional reaction of seeing the huge polished stone being carted away, and consider a matter of equity.

The man that installed the monument was Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who in 2001 decided to battle the public perception that America’s south just wasn’t “Christiany” enough. And really, what better way is there to tell the world that you’re a pious guy serving in the piousest courthouse in the piousest state in the piousest country than a TWO TON slab of rock with Yaweh’s written law scrawled across it? We’re talking about something that’s literally etched in stone here. The reason, though, that Roy Moore was allowed to install that Ten Commandments monument in the first place is that Christianity is just one of those things that nobody “ought to object to.” It’s an old American standard, a hometown hero, the team with home field advantage. The majority of America’s population is comprised of Christians, which is why Roy Moore was able to install the monument with relative ease. (“Relative” is the keyword here, since I’m guessing he probably went through some crap to get the thing displayed in the beginning.)

What if, for the sake of argument, Roy Moore was actually Roy Patil a Hindu, and he one day decided to install a six-foot statue of Vishnu? Do you think all those stouthearted, justice-seeking Christians would have embraced the preserver god’s presence? Or let’s say Roy Moore was actually Roy Chang, a Chinese Buddhist who insisted on installing a tribute to the laughing Buddha? Would the community rage with resounding approval? Chances are, probably not, since statues of four-armed deities and shirtless fat dudes just make us wholesome, American Christians uncomfortable. If those other statues actually reared their backwards, blasphemous heads into an Alabama courthouse, there would be minimal opposition to their immediate removal.

As many have said before (and much more eloquently), displaying religious symbols of any kind in a public institution such as a school or a courthouse is unjust. It is an imposition of one party’s beliefs onto all the members of a diverse community. Neither Roy Moore, Roy Patil, nor Roy Chang have the right to abuse their positions of authority by imposing their religious views onto the public. And to all of you Christians getting bent out of shape over the TWO TON monument of the Ten Commandments, just remember the first commandment: “I am the Lord, your God. You shall have no other gods before me.” That includes idols, you know. Don’t worry so much about physical representations of God and just stick to keeping Him in your hearts. Now, for Christ’s sake, is that so hard?