It’s hard to get too worked up over the latest religious right scheme to gather signatures to “demand” that Congress “save” the Ten Commandments. After all, the Decalogue isn’t in any danger, and therefore does not need saving. Just as importantly, folks can gather all the signatures they want, but unless they plan on scrapping the First Amendment, Congress won’t be able to help them.
The new scheme comes on the heels of Roy Moore’s failure to promote his faith in Alabama’s judicial building. A small Texas-based religious right group called Vision America is using the Moore angle to rally fellow theocrats to endorse the so-called “Save the Ten Commandments” petition drive.
Vision America has already received the support of the religious right’s most important players — Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Alan Keyes, Gary Bauer, Sandy Rios, Paul Weyrich, and D. James Kennedy, among others.
This is all par for the course. It offers groups a chance to send out fundraising letters and gather signatures for a meaningless petition that won’t (indeed, can’t) go anywhere. It’s just a publicity stunt, plain and simple.
But a comment at the press conference to announce this new initiative yesterday caught my attention.
Vision America’s president, Rick Scarborough, told reporters, “God often does his best work right after a crucifixion. What we saw with justice Roy Moore was a crucifixion. God will vindicate this man.”
Is Scarborough comparing Roy Moore to Jesus? Isn’t that sacrilege?