ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 5, 1997 TAG: 9703050090
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Republican lawmakers pressed Congress on Tuesday to back an Alabama judge's right to display the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. Opponents accused them of staging a political show that will bring shame on the House.
Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., called his resolution ``an important symbolic gesture'' that would affirm that the Ten Commandments represent the ``cornerstone of Western civilization and the basis of our legal system here in America.''
But Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., said the Ten Commandments should be considered in churches, not in Congress.
``We ought to be ashamed of ourselves for parading this resolution out here as if it were some kind of serious business,'' he said.
The House postponed a final vote until Wednesday, after proponents insisted on a roll call. It will take a two-thirds vote of the House to approve the nonbinding measure.
Aderholt, a freshman, introduced the resolution in response to a two-year controversy in Alabama over a lawsuit challenging a state judge who displays a wood carving of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom and opens court sessions with prayer.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued Etowah County Circuit Judge Roy S. Moore, arguing that his courtroom religious practices violate the Constitution's mandate of a separate church and state. Montgomery County Circuit Judge Charles Price agreed, ordering Moore last year to halt the court prayers by a Protestant minister.
The dispute is now before the Alabama Supreme Court. The congressional resolution would have no direct impact on that litigation.
Aderholt argued that excluding a display of the Ten Commandments ``is not consistent with our nation's heritage, yet alone common sense.''
Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., expressed dismay that House GOP leaders brought the measure to the floor one day after it was introduced, without committee hearings.
``We are attempting to intervene in a state court case,'' he said. ``It has not even gotten to the federal court and it certainly has not been looked at by the Supreme Court.''
Supporters of the resolution repeatedly invoked George Washington, James Madison and other founding fathers, citing their reliance on the Bible and the Ten Commandments to guide their mission.
``If it is some political gimmick, it's a political gimmick that the father of our Constitution also employed,'' said Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla. ``If the revisionists don't like that, that's fine, but please ... don't try to do a verbal burning of our American history books.''
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB