The 10 Commandments, Judge Roy Moore, The Federal Courts, And Luther

By: Rev. Jack Cascione
Three centuries of Baptist/Calvinist preaching have convinced 99% of
Americans, including the Government that the 10 Commandments are religion.
They believe that keeping the 10 Commandments is an act of faith.

National news organizations are broadcasting images of people protesting the
removal of Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice, Roy Moore's 5000-pound
monument of the 10 Commandments from the Alabama Supreme Court and people
praying around the monument.

Moore has been accused by US Federal Courts of promoting religion by
displaying the Ten Commandments.

Confused reporting on the pros and cons of the controversy has also
demonstrated how inept and poorly educated the editors, news writers, and
reporters of the American press really are.

Numerous articles in the New York Times report why Judge Moore is wrong but
don't explain Moore's legal argument or quote him.  At least World Net Daily
quotes both sides of the issue while also failing to explain or understand
what is happening.

On November 19, 2002, World Net Daily reported: "Yesterday, U. S. District
Court Judge Myron Thompson found 'Roy's Rock,' as it's nicknamed, violates
the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment of the Constitution, which
provides that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion.'"

"'Both in appearance and in stated purpose, the Chief Justice's Ten
Commandments monument is ... nothing less than 'an obtrusive year-round
religious display' ... to place the government's weight behind an obvious
effort to proselytize on behalf of a particular religion,' wrote Judge
Thompson in his opinion."

"The top of Moore's monument is engraved with the Ten Commandments as
excerpted from the Book of Exodus in the King James Bible.  The sides of the
monument bear quotations from the Declaration of Independence and smaller
quotations from James Madison, William Blackstone, James Wilson, Thomas
Jefferson, George Washington and John Jay. Also included in the engravings
is the National Motto, 'In God We Trust,' and quotations excerpted from the
1954 Pledge of Allegiance and the Preamble to the Alabama Constitution."

"'The court is captivated by not just the solemn ambience of the rotunda,
but by something much more sublime,' wrote Judge Thompson, who described the
monument and its surroundings as 'a consecrated place, a religious
sanctuary, within the walls of a courthouse.'"

"Judge Thompson noted that the monument has become a 'compelling place for
prayer' for visitors and court employees."

FOXNEWS and CNN gave Moore a chance to defend himself.  Moore explained
that:
1. The Alabama Constitution acknowledges the God of the Ten Commandments.
2. The Federal Government has no right to make a law about the establishment
of religion, which means it has no jurisdiction in his courthouse.
3. The Federal Courts refuse to define the word "religion" in the
Constitution, which means they are no longer following the US Constitution.
In other words, the American Courts will not define what they are opposed
to.

World Net Daily quotes Moore on August 14, 2003: "The acknowledgement of
Almighty God is the basis for our justice system. It is the source of our
law. It is the foundation of our country," he explained.

"Separation of church and state never was meant to separate God from our
government. It never was meant to separate God from the law."

"Moore asserted the federal courts, by their rulings against the monument,
are restricting the First Amendment rights of Alabamans."

"Today [the freedom to worship God] is being taken from us by federal courts
who misuse the First Amendment as a sword to take away our rights, instead
of a shield to preserve them for us."

American Courts now claim that the mere acknowledgment that there is a God
is an act of religion.  This means the Devil has faith because he believes
God exists.

By confusing Law and Gospel Judge Moore has missed his most compelling
argument for displaying the Ten Commandments, which is, the 10 Commandments
are not religion.  No one can believe in the 10 Commandments.  They do not
identify who God is or prescribe any form of worship.  They are a historic
record of the Law.

Webster's New World Dictionary defines religion as, "The service and
adoration of God or a god as expressed in forms of worship."  Evidently,
American Courts do not accept the dictionary's definition of religion.

The flawed reasoning of U. S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson above is
that the 10 Commandments should be removed because people are praying around
and to the monument.  Myron concludes if people pray to something, it must
be a religious object.  What if they start praying to the courthouse?

The Federal Courts' refusal to acknowledge God's existence on the grounds of
religion is more than likely motivated by fear of competition.  If God
exists, people may not worship the Judges. If the Law is religion then the
Lawyers are America's priests.

Yes, the 10 Commandments are in the Bible, but so are sandals, food, sex,
clothes, trees, earth, sky, sea, etc.  Are judges practicing religion when
they tell people not to steal?

Many who claim to follow Christianity incorrectly teach that people should
have faith in the 10 Commandments and that their love for God and other
people is an act of faith instead of the Law.  Therefore they will not be
able to understand Luther's explanation of Galatians 3:12 as follows from
Vol. 26, page 270-271, of the Luther's Works in the American Edition:

Gal. 3:12. "But the Law does not rest on faith."

"The sophists say: 'The righteous shall live if his faith is formed [by
love].' Paul, on the other hand, says: 'The Law does not rest on faith.' But
what is the Law? Is it not also a commandment of love? In fact, the Law
commands nothing else but love, as the text says (Matt. 22:37): 'You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, etc.' Again (Deut. 5:10):
'Showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me.' And again (Matt.
22:40): 'On these two commandments depend all the Law and the prophets.'
Thus if the Law commanding love conflicts with faith, then love is not of
faith. In this way Paul clearly refutes the gloss made up by the sophists
about a 'formed faith,' and, putting the Law aside, he speaks only about
faith. Once the Law has been put aside, love is also put aside, as well as
everything that belongs to the Law; all that is kept is faith, which
justifies and makes alive.

Paul is arguing on the basis of a very clear testimony of the prophet that
there is simply no one who attains to justification and life in the sight of
God except the believer, who attains to righteousness and life on the basis
of faith, without the Law or love. The reason: The Law does not rest on
faith, that is, the Law is not faith or anything about faith; it does not
believe. Nor are the works of the Law faith. Therefore faith is something
different from the Law, just as the promise is something different from the
Law. But the promise is not grasped by doing; it is grasped only by
believing.

As in philosophy, at the first division, substance and accident are
distinct, so in theology the promise and the Law are as distinct as heaven
and earth. But if the promise and the Law are distinct, then faith and works
are distinct also. Hence it is impossible for faith to rest on the Law,
because faith rests only on the promise. Therefore it only accepts and knows
God, and it consists only in receiving good things from God. But the Law and
works consist in doing and in giving to God. Thus Abel the sacrificer gives
to God, but Abel the believer receives from God. Therefore from this passage
in the prophet Paul draws the very forceful conclusion that the righteous
shall live by faith, that is, by faith alone, because the Law does not
belong to faith at all. The Law is not the promise, but faith clings to and
rests on the promise. Accordingly, just as the Law and the promise are
distinct, so are works and faith. Hence the gloss of the sophists, which
joins the Law to faith, is false and wicked; in fact, it extinguishes faith
and puts the Law in place of faith.

Paul is speaking continually about those who want to keep the Law morally,
not theologically.  But whatever is said about theological good works is
simply attributed to faith alone."

When so many Americans don't understand that faith is religious belief and
the Law is what people obey, the 10 Commands will be falsely regarded as
religion.  Hence Federal Judge Myron Thompson claims that displaying the 10
Commandments is proselytizing.

August 26, 2003