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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, August 24, 2003

EDITORIAL
Ten Commandments have no place in court

In due time, the 5,300-pound monument to the Ten Commandments will be removed from the rotunda of the Montgomery, Ala., judiciary building over the vigorous opposition of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.

Any monument to any religion's founding ideas — even ideas as generally benign and acceptable as the Ten Commandments — have no place in a court of law.

One suspects Judge Moore knows this, but wishes to make a point about his belief that Christian principles form the foundation of American law.

Historically, he has an argument. But judicially and legally, he is all wet. The law is supposed to be above any particular set of religious beliefs.

By placing a monument such as this for all to see as they enter the courthouse, Moore signals that they will be judged not by the law but by their adherence, or lack of it, to Christian standards.

And there is a further point. Moore has been told to remove the monument by the U.S. District Court.

He has refused.

If he feels he can ignore the orders of a court, how can he expect people to obey his rulings?