posted
OK, I understand it a bit better now. My supplementary questions - which might already have been answered, I may just not have seen them anywhere in this rapidly-elongating thread - are: Who first commissioned/approved the statue for design, construction, and installment? And what were their motives based on, religious statement or abstract law? And what do we know about the actual opinions of the Chief Justice? Did he approve it because of his own religious beliefs, or does he just view it as a bit of abstract legal iconography, or just freedom of expression? And what about the associate justices, are any of them anti-religion or just very pro-church/state separation?
posted
From perusing the articles about the case in the current issues of Time and Newsweek, it seems that Justice Moore, with some helpers, installed the sculpture in the Alabama Judicial Building's rotunda after business hours sometime in 2001.
After becoming a circuit court judge in 1992, he held prayers in his courtroom and hung a hand-carved plaque with the Commandments on its wall. According to one district attorney who used to practice in his court, Moore made scrapbooks with laminated newspaper clippings dealing with his Ten Commandments battles. During his campaign for the chief justice's seat, he touted himself as the "Ten Commandments judge." Time quotes him as saying, "I will never, never deny the God upon whom our laws and country depend." Given all this, I don't think his actions are merely part of some technical exercise in legal theory.
Neither article has anything to say about the associate justices' personal religious views or their take on the separation of church and state.
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Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
It's also very suspect that he had the statue installed at election time for the Chief Justice's seat (witch he won in, suprise, a very religous state). He's not dumb and erecting the statue then is not coincidence: nor is it suprising he's called about half the press conferences on the subject both to gain support for his POV and to be on TV as much as humanly possible. I see a govoner's or possbly senator's election with his name on it in the future...
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
Yes it is. Moreso that most don't know the reasoning behind the statue's placment so they'll laud this judge as a champion of their beliefs. They'll vote for him.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
All the guy did is dress like an Armenian, yes, I probably didn't spell it right, which, Christ was, so that shouldn't be a problem....
I checked Jesus in to the hotel I work at tonight, and you know, he was so soft spoken he seemed to be either very mellow, or.... Well, I don't want to get in to stereotyping......
If my wife and I ever have another kid I may name him Jesus, since the spanish speaking people do....
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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posted
The spelling of the name of Jesus is the engligh adaptation of a Greek derivation of the name Yeshua, or Joshua. I get tired of the whole Jesus(hay-zus)/jesus thing.
-------------------- "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
posted
I knew Mohammed was Estonian, but I had no idea Jesus was Armenian.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
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posted
For all practical purposes, Jesus in today's terms was a Palestinian... These people were probably just as multi-ethnic back then as they are today. At least his father wasn't a local, apparently. And while it's likely he spoke Arameic, there are several other possibilities in that area as well. Depends a lot on his real family background and upbringing - the Gospels are highly suspect in this respect.
But basically, anybody dressing up like a guy from an altar painting should be automatically free of charges of blasphemy or impersonation. Whatever Jesus looked like, long- and straight-haired, tastefully bearded 180 cm Scandinavian type in a white robe *wasn't* it. (Somebody is clearly confusing him with Gandalf the Grey in his youth, before he lost the discount coupon to the cleaner. Although I'd rather have copyright trouble with the church than with Peter Jackson...)
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It helps.
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