GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--Aug. 22, 2003-- It weighs 5,280 pounds.   In the dark of night, it was secretly hauled into the Alabama State Supreme Court lobby on July 31, 2001 by an insurgent team.   The presence of the granite slab was a time bomb.  That morning the fuse was lighted and burned toward a major explosion that culminated yesterday when the bomb, known as “Roy’s Rock,” was hidden from public view.

       Roy’s Rock is 5,280 pounds of explosive emotions.   To some, it is equal to a Terrorist bomb placed in the heart of one of America’s most controversial state’s Supreme Court lobby.
       To others, it is a “Shield of Religious Vigilance,” a fortress of religious and political anachronisms that beacons to those who do not want the present or future to evolve and trample the past.
       The 5,280 chunk of granite was placed in the lobby of the Alabama State Supreme Court by its Chief Justice, Roy Moore.

     Justice Moore violated common sense and ultimately federal law by placing the chunk of granite hosting the chiseled words of the Ten Commandments in the lobby of the building that stands as a symbol of protection between church and state and state and the people. 
       To those who viewed the Ten Commandments as a Terrorizing religious symbol, bringing the church into the lobby of the state, the battlelines were drawn.
       Civil rights armies marched on the chunk of granite as though it were the walls of Jericho.   In response, Christian fundamentalists who cling to the idea  that all truths lie in the Bible and its teachings, those attempting to remove or challenge Roy’s Rock’s Rights were blasphemers and hedonists, seeking to strip the state and nation of its moral fiber.
       The battle was fought by the Chief Justice.   Justice Moore challenged a federal judge’s ruling that the presence of the Ten Commandments violated the separation of church and state protocol by appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay.
        The Supreme Court refused to acknowledge the issue, their way of thumbing their noses at issues unworthy of their attention.
       The Sentinels of Vigilance came to the state’s rescue.
       Facing a $5,000-a-day fine if Roy’s Rock wasn’t removed, the eight associate Supreme Court judges met and voted to remove the rock from the lobby.    According to Alabama state law, a majority of the justices can override the Chief Justice on administrative matters.

       Since Chief Justice Moore acted unilaterally when he installed the Ten Commandments, the associates were not recanting a decision by the court.   They were simply removing the right of the Chief Justice to violate federal law, and, to remove the symbol that has weakened the credibility of the Supreme Court in the eyes of those who want an impartial judgment on all issues.
        But removing the rock isn’t quite as easy as one might think.
        Weighing well over two-tons, the rock can’t be put just anywhere.   It’s too heavy to go into an elevator, and, if placed in the wrong spot, could break through the floor and crash upon those below.
        Chief Justice Moore noted when he installed the Ten Commandments he previously studied the structural designs of the building and placed its 5280-pound weight on a spot in the lobby that was heavily reinforced.  Moving it may be as much of a challenge as the battle to keep it.
         In a way, the difficulty with Roy’s Rock is not unlike the problems we all face when we let old ideas and old ways of thinking strangle our ability to change and evolve.   Terrorism is like cement.   It will harden around our feet and immobilize us.
         But there are some ingredients necessary to a viable, healthy, moral society of evolving citizens.
         Justice Moore’s point is that America was founded on God-given principles.   He is quick to quote Thomas Jefferson’s comments that all human rights come directly from God, and no one has the right to violate that law, especially humans.
         Thomas Paine, the great revolutionary writer who sparked the nation’s backbone to fight for the freedom of the Children’s Children’s Children, wrote in his famed book, The Rights of Man, that all rights came from the Supreme Authority, God.  Paine, an anarchist by trade, gave little credit to government to make any laws over human beings, and instead, pled for each person to be self-governed, and to stand tall, knowing that the rights of the individual came from the highest authority—the Supreme Being.
         It might be easy to sweep Justice Moore’s arguments for his Ten Commandments over in the corner as the last gasps of a “Southern red-neck” trying to promote Right-Wing Christianity.
          But Moore’s point runs deeper than some radical throwback to the Civil War.

      His argument is that when we remove “God” from our courts and government, we end up with no “Higher Authority.”   The words:  “In God We Trust” are etched into our money.   Such references to God exist in our Pledge of Allegiance.   Each U.S. President is sworn in with one hand on the Bible.
          More importantly, the Ten Commandments span a wide berth of Judeo-Christian religion.   They include both the Old and New Testaments.    To some, they represent more "moral laws" than "religious laws."   They are not "Christian" in nature, because the Jewish religion also adheres to the principles of the Old Testament.
          But there are those of other religions who think in terms that God Equals Christianity.  And, there are those who are atheists and agnostics who either refute or question the existence of God.  
          And then, there are those who would simply like to strip away any responsibility between human beings and any other force or source than themselves.  These "secular humanists" believe a person has all the power to rule himself or herself and seeks no other authority, supreme, civil or criminal, to manage behavior.
          While it would be easy for me to join the choir against Chief Justice Moore, I have to go along with his point--to whom do we as human beings look upon as the Final Authority when it comes to Justice and Moral Law?
          When I was sitting in the rubble of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and saw the swirling halo of papers forming a ring in the sky, I believed I witnessed the rising of the Spirits of Vigilance to keep watch over the Children's Children's Children.
        I heard them calling upon us all to become Parents, Grandparents, Loved Ones and Citizens of Vigilance.
       To me, they were asking us to serve a higher order than ourselves.   To turn selfishness into selflessness, to convert egotism into humility, and sweep injustice away with fairness and honor for all the Children's Children's Children.
      Like many atheists and agnostics, I have trouble seeing a particular God in charge of everything, whether he be the one the people in the Middle East pray to, or the one the religious zealots honor, or the one that the most primitive people in the far reaches of the farthest jungle honor.
      I cannot deny the mystery of life, or explain how all the pieces of both human and natural engineering work.   But I do accept an ultimate design exists, and that it was shaped and formed by powers far greater than we humans can ever imagine.
      If this is "God," then I accept there is One.

      Still, I have trouble "seeing" God, or accepting His/Her/Its rule over me or anyone.
     But, I do see this Supreme Authority, this Higher Power, in the shape and form of children.
     In the Pledge of Vigilance, I ask those who see the future as an opportunity to evolve, to pledge to fight the Beast of Terror with Vigilance.  That is, to turn Fear into Courage, Intimidation into Conviction, and to boot out of the way Complacency by taking Right Actions that benefit all, not some, of the Children's Children's Children.
      In this sense, I've made the Children's Children's Children God.
      They are the deity I honor.
      It is their innocence I must defend, their rights I must protect if I am truly a Sentinel of Vigilance.   That means I must do all in my power to be fair and just to all the children, regardless of race, color, creed, religious or sexual preference.
      It means I must see the Child in all of us.
      Justice then is being fair to this Higher Authority.   It means I must have a benchmark far greater than myself or other adults to judge the Right Actions of another.
      Crimes are committed when they violate moral law as well as civil law.    And while civil law may change, moral law never does.

      Moral law is about protecting the Children's Children's Children.
      It is comprised of laws that protect and defend the rights of the future generations today.
      I don't see that the removal of the Ten Commandments helps us become Sentinels of Vigilance.   Since the monument is in the lobby and not the courtrooms, it appears to me more of reminder of moral duty than the sledgehammer imposing it upon others.
      I also doubt that any prudent person would deny the need for a Higher Authority to guide the travels of human nature on its journey.  Human beings have done much damage to this world, from blowing up each other to raping the environment.
      Now, with Weapons of Mass Destruction hanging over our heads, there is a chance the world's population could quickly be reduced by some insane act of a Terrorist.
      It seems any Higher Authority might be necessary these days to check our base, feral Beast of Terror natures.
      Removing 5,280 pounds of moral benchmarks might be a victory for those secular humanists who falsely think man and woman can rule themselves, but for Sentinels of Vigilance, the swift smashing of the granite seems more a feather in the Beast of Terror's war bonnet than a victory for Vigilance.
      I also think that Roy's Rock is more than a message about a piece of granite in a government building in Alabama.
      What happens to our government when we strip it of any reference to Higher Authority, or Supreme Management?

        I would like to think government has a duty to something other than other politicians.
       If we do strip God from the walls and halls of government, then we should replace that name with something equal in power.
       "One Nation, Under the Children's Children's Children..."
       "In The Children's Children's Children We Trust..."
       "I Swear, Upon The Children's Children's Children, to uphold the Constitution of the United States..."
       "I pray to the Children's Children's Children..."
      Chief Justice Roy Moore may be more a Sentinel of Vigilance than a religious Southern red-neck as he is accused to be.
       I hope Roy's Rock survives the cracks.
       Granite is pretty strong.   Just ask Moses!


        

Aug 21--Fox News:  Where Is "Fair & Balanced" In The Terrorism of Vigilance

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