Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore: God Essential for US Courts, Law to Function
Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore, who has been outspoken about his Christian beliefs, recently discussed why he believes the U.S. needs God in order for its court and law systems to function properly.
Speaking at the Pierce County Prayer Breakfast in Tacoma, Wash., recently, the top judge in Alabama referenced the Pledge of Allegiance as evidence of why Americans need God in their legal system. A video of Moore's speech was uploaded to YouTube on June 6.
"When we say the Pledge, we say 'I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation,' […] we pause," he said.
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"They didn't mean for us to pause, ladies and gentlemen, and that pause has cost us a lot."
"It has cost a lot because we have forgotten that God is intimately connected with this nation," the judge continued. "Without God there would be no nation. Without God there would be no freedom to believe what you want. That goes all the way back to people like Thomas Jefferson and his bill for religious freedom. He knew what it meant. He knew the limits of civil government, and he knew who gave us that freedom to believe what we want about God, but it comes from God."
The chief justice went on to argue that stating a belief in God is different than stating a belief in organized religion, and therefore referencing "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the U.S. Constitution's law on the Separation of Church vs. State.
"God is sovereign over our government and over our law," he told those in attendance at the prayer breakfast. "And when we are lead to believe anything else, when we exclude him from our lives, exclude him from our law, exclude him from our courts, then they will fail."
Moore previously made waves in May when he discussed the First Amendment at a Pastors-for-Life luncheon, suggesting that the First Amendment only applies to Christians because it references a "creator God."
"Everybody, to include the U.S. Supreme Court, has been deceived as to one little word in the First Amendment called 'religion' – they can't define it!" Moore said at the event.
"They can't define it the way Mason, Madison and even the United State Supreme Court defined it, 'the duties we owe to the creator and the manner of discharging it,'" the chief justice continued, citing James Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments.
"They don't want to do that, because that acknowledges a creator God. Buddha didn't create us. Mohammed didn't create us. It's the God of the Holy Scriptures."
"They didn't bring a Koran over on the Pilgrim ship, the Mayflower," Moore continued. "Let's get real. Let's go back and learn our history. Let's stop playing games."
Moore has become most well-known for an incident in 2003, when he refused the orders of a federal judge to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama judicial building. He then lost his post as chief justice as a result of the incident, but was re-elected in 2013.
