Armed and dangerous?

Alabama's elected officials are at it again.

In 1861 the state legislature seceded from the Union in a bid to protect the institution of slavery. A century later Gov. George Wallace fought federal court orders to integrate the state's public schools, standing in the doorway of the University of Alabama to prevent black students from enrolling.

Today the flashpoint of defiance in Dixie isn't race; it's religion. Gov. Forrest "Fob" James has threatened to call out the National Guard and enlist the aid of the state police to defend government-sponsored religious practices in a local courtroom.

The facts of the dispute are simple. Circuit Judge Roy Moore of Etowah County regularly invites Protestant clergy and others to his courtroom to lead prayers at the opening of jury sessions. Moore also displays prominently a large handcrafted set of tablets featuring the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments.

These Christian religious references provoked little disapproval from the heavily Baptist population around the courthouse in Gadsden, an economically troubled city of 40,000 located northeast of Birmingham. However, the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union brought a lawsuit challenging the religious practices. ACLU attorneys said official sponsorship of religion in a courtroom where jurors, defendants and others of many faiths are required to be present violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

Montgomery County Circuit Judge Charles Price agreed with the ACLU. Last November Price ruled that the invocations constituted "state-sponsored prayer." "State-sponsored prayers that demonstrate a denominational preference are proscribed by the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," he held.

Then, on Feb. 10 of this year, Judge Price ruled against the Ten Commandments display. Reversing an earlier order allowing the religious symbol to remain on the wall, Price concluded that "it is obvious that the sole purpose for the plaques hanging in the courtroom in such a fashion is purely religious.'" He noted that Judge Moore himself "has unequivocally stated that the plaques are not in the courtroom for a historical, judicial or educational purpose, but rather, and clearly to promote religion."

In his Alabama v. ACLU decision, Price tried to reassure the public that no attack on religion was under way. Quoting a federal district court decision in a similar case in Georgia, the judge observed, "[T]he Ten Commandments are not in peril. They are neither stained, tarnished nor thrashed. They may be displayed in every church, synagogue, temple, mosque, home or storefront. They may be displayed in cars, on lawns and in corporate boardrooms. Where this precious gift cannot and should not be displayed as an obvious religious text or to promote religion is on government property (particularly in a courtroom)."

Price ordered the display taken down or at least expanded to include other nonreligious and historical items so its religious message would not predominate.

These decisions, coming in a state steeped in religious orthodoxy and anti-government populism, have sparked an uproar. And some political and religious leaders seem intent on fanning the flames.

For his part, Judge Moore has repeatedly announced his intention to defy any orders to discontinue the invocations or take down the Decalogue. After last November's ruling, he declared flatly at a press conference, "I will not take down the Ten Commandments, and I will not stop prayer."

After the February ruling, Moore reiterated his stance. "The Ten Commandments prayer," he insisted, "are acknowledgements of God and something I will not stop."

Religious and political conservatives are rallying to the rebel judge's side. Attorney Dean Young, for example, has formed the Christian Family Association and is leading a statewide petition drive to swamp the state Supreme Court with public support for Moore.

Gov. James, a long-time critic of church-state separation, fired the most inflammatory blasts. Speaking at a Baptist prayer luncheon at the Montgomery Civic Center Feb. 5, he vowed to call out the National Guard and the state police to defend the courtroom conventions.

Thundered James, "I say to my fellow Alabamians at this moment, the only way those Ten Commandments and that prayer will be stripped from that court is with the force of arms. Make no mistake about that statement."

Legislators, judges, cabinet officers and church leaders attending the event reportedly erupted in applause.

James said he was inspired in part by another speech at the legislative luncheon by Richard Land, director of the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission. Land, a key figure in the Religious Right takeover of the Southern Baptist denomination, told the throng that America is in danger of collapsing into amorality. Land encouraged people to work through government to legislate morality.

After the speeches, the governor denied to reporters that his saber-rattling should be compared to George Wallace's prosegregationist stand in the school house door. "I don't know if it would be a stand in the courthouse door or not," he told The Birmingham News. "But I would use my office to the maximum to demonstrate total resistance." (Ironically, "massive resistance" is the term segregationists used to describe their battle against integration in the '50s and '60s.)

Five days later, James repeated the threat to use force. Speaking on his afternoon radio talk show Feb. 10, he said, "I will use all legal means at my disposal, which include the National Guard and the state troopers, to prevent the removal of the Ten Commandments from Judge Moore's courtroom."

Civil liberties activists were appalled by the governor's actions. "I think his comments are contrary to his oath of office," ACLU attorney Robert Segall told the Mobile Register. "I think they're un-American. I think he is advocating a dictatorship and I would hope he would rethink his un-American, unconstitutional position. I think it's a disgrace to the state and a disgrace to the United States to have those kind of comments."

Americans United for Separation of Church and State also weighed into the controversy. AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn wrote James, "I am alarmed and frankly shocked at the tenor of your statements and urge you to reconsider this unwise course of action. By engaging in such highly charged rhetoric, you are sending a signal to all citizens of Alabama that they are free to ignore court rulings with which they personally disagree."

Lynn chided the governor for teaching children the wrong lesson. "Most Americans strive to instill in their children a respect for the laws of the land and governmental authority," observed Lynn. "Your statements and threats wholly undercut these efforts. They are irresponsible and completely out of line for a public official who is sworn to uphold the laws of Alabama as well as the U.S. Constitution."

Lynn noted that the Constitution gives government officials no authority to intervene in religious matters and reminded the governor that church-state separation is a "fundamental and time-tested principle of American life."

Observed Lynn, "One need only glance at the daily newspaper to see how wise church-state separation is. Reports from the deadly sectarian strife of Northern Ireland to the warring states of the former Yugoslavia demonstrate the danger of injudiciously mixing religion with politics and armed force."

James, however, seems unlikely to be open to persuasion. Much of his political career has been marked by a hostility to cDurch-state separation and a belief that religion is the easy solution to most of society's problems from education to crime. (The answer to youth violence, he reportedly declared, is "a good butt-whipping and then a prayer.")

Although James and his wife Bobbie claim membership in the Episcopal Church, the couple's religious and political agenda come straight from the fundamentalist Religious Right. At inaugural ceremonies in 1995, a Jewish rabbi was brought in from Jerusalem to blow a shofar, a ram's horn sounded on ceremonial occasions. The rabbi also read the Ten Commandments in both Hebrew and English.

The action might seem ecumenical, but in fact it was an expression of the Jameses' fundamentalist outlook. Many fundamentalists believe the creation of the state of Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and a critical step toward the return of Jesus (and the conversion of Jews to Christianity).

According to the Montgomery Advertiser, the inaugural ceremonies reflected Mrs. James' belief that Alabama's $580 million oil lease windfall during her husband's first term as governor in 1981 was the direct result of the state's recognition of Israeli Independence Day.

Mrs. James drew criticism during that first term for using state aircraft to fly to religious events both in Alabama and outside the state. (She dismissed the complaints, saying they came from the pit of hell.")

The Advertiser noted that the Jameses also used a state plane to travel to a gathering of the Religious Roundtable in Dallas in 1980. That meeting, addressed by Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, is considered to be the kick-off event of the fundamentalist political resurgence during the 1980s.

Gov. James' religious crusading has also taken other forms. Last year, controversy erupted when applicants for positions in state government charged that they were being grilled on their religious practices and other personal matters.

Bill Gray, a legal adviser to the governor, asked candidates for judgeships about their religious beliefs and their church attendance.

Huntsville lawyer Larry Morgan said Gray questioned him about his divorce and which church he attends. Morgan, who said he attends religious services irregularly, believes his chances of an appointment disappeared when he gave the "wrong" answers.

Attorney Don Weir, also of Huntsville, said Gray concluded an interview with him by staging an impromptu prayer meeting.

"When we started to leave he said, Let us kneel and pray,'" Weir told the advertiser. "And we prayed. I was just speechless. I would have expected that from my priest when I visit his office. I wouldn't expect it in a political office."

Although the U.S. Constitution forbids religious tests for public office, Gray sees nothing wrong with inquiries about office seekers' religious habits. "Clearly our nation was founded for a particular purpose and that purpose was, among other things, the propagation of the Gospel of Christ," he told the newspaper. "There was never an intent by the founding fathers to have anything other than a religious people, anything other than a virtuous people."

Gray also told the Huntsville Times, "There is no such thing as a wall of separation between church and state."

Gov. James has also targeted public schools for his religious agenda, working with the state affiliate of Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum to fight education reforms (which they dismiss as "outcome-based education") and to promote religion in science classes.

James endorsed a proposal to insert a 250-word disclaimer in biology textbooks describing evolution as a "controversial theory." Professing his belief in the Book of Genesis, the governor mockingly posed with slumped shoulders at a state school board meeting to imitate textbook illustrations showing evolution from ape-like ancestors. The board approved the disclaimer by a 6-1 vote in November, 1995.

Later James used state funds to buy 900 copies of Darwin on Trial, a work critical of evolution. The governor wanted the books sent to each public school science teacher in the state.

Most recently, James and his top legal advisers are fighting an Americans United/ACLU lawsuit challenging school-sponsored religious devotions in the Dekalb County public schools.

James' crusade could be dismissed as simply the actions of a renegade politician, one more example of the demagogic official that Alabama has often thrust onto the national stage. His threat to defy the courts is symptomatic, however, of a national campaign now under way among Religious Right activists and their allies.

A growing number of far right leaders have launched a bitter attack against judicial activists" on the state and federal bench who are thwarting their drive toward a "Christianized" government. Court decisions upholding abortion rights, protecting gays from discrimination and defending church-state separation have enraged the Religious Right. Some are even questioning the legitimacy of the U.S. government and calling for drastic measures in response.

For example, fight-wing firebrand Patrick Buchanan hailed Gov. James' threat of force and suggested it may be the start of a national showdown similar to the American Revolution. "If the governor holds his ground, he can make Etowah County Courthouse the Concord Bridge of a Middle American revolution against our reigning judicial dictatorship," wrote Buchanan in his nationally syndicated column.

Buchanan harshly criticized the Supreme Court's church-state separation rulings. "The American people," he said, "were never consulted on whether they wanted school prayer, Bible study or the Ten Commandments out of their schools and all expressions of religious belief expelled from public life. The edict was handed down without precedent in law, by a court acting as arbitrarily as a communist commissar."

Buchanan openly appealed for a religiously based government. "Are the Ten Commandments a religious document?" he asked. "Of course they are.... They were a foundation of American law. From Sunday blue laws to anti-blasphemy laws, to laws against adultery, false witness and murder, they served as the basis upon which we built much of our early civil code and public life. Who is to tell us they cannot so serve again?"

A phalanx of Religious Right leaders has also marched into the Etowah controversy. The Alliance Defense Fund,. an umbrella organization of religious broadcasters and their allies, is helping pick up the legal tab for Judge Moore. In addition, TV preacher Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice has filed a brief in the case, supporting the judge.

Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council calls the confrontation "an early shot in the coming national battle over the judiciary." He told Human Events that the governor's threat is justified. "Yeah," he said, "I think the people of Alabama have the right to determine how they are governed."

On a more intellectual level, leaders of the Catholic right have also taken up the anti-court cause. The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a Lutheran minister turned Catholic priest, has used two issues of his First Things magazine to assail "judicial usurpation" and even to question the legitimacy of the American government.

Writing in one essay, Religious Right leader Charles Colson said, "When peaceable means and limited civil disobedience fail -- at least according to the Protestant theologians Knox and Rutherford -- revolution can be justified from a Christian point of view." (He said America has not reached that point yet.)

On the practical political level the anti-court crusaders are operating on several fronts. Religious Right godfather Paul Weyrich, a Catholic who played a key role in bringing Protestant fundamentalists back into politics, is trying to prevent the appointment of additional "judicial activists" to the bench by President Bill Clinton. Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation Judicial Selection Monitoring Project is spearheading the effort.

Some 260 national and state anti-abortion, "pro-family" and other right-wing groups signed a joint letter to Congress vowing to "fight judicial activism with whatever tools and resources are legitimately at our disposal." Project director Thomas L. Jipping said the coalition will target judicial nominees when they come up for confirmation in the Senate.

"The unprecedented size of this coalition," observed Jipping in a Washington Times essay, "is only the beginning; efforts to bring more grassroots organizations and talk radio into this coalition will continue indefinitely. As it says in the Gospel of Matthew, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

The anti-courts contingent has an ally in U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who heads the Judiciary Committee, the Senate panel that examines judicial nominees. Hatch told the Federalist Society last November that "judicial activists should not be nominated by the president or confirmed by the Senate, and I personally will do my best to see to it that they are not."

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is also sympathetic. His spokeswoman Susan Irby told The New York Times Lott plans to give Clinton nominees a close look. "He very much intends to subject them to thorough scrutiny," she said. (Lott, a member of the secretive far-right Council on National Policy, reportedly called Judge Moore Feb. 7 to offer his support.)

On the other side of the Capitol, House Speaker Newt Gingrich has asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) to hold hearings on "judicial activism."

Right-wing strategist Weyrich has also endorsed a move to try to impeach judges who violate the far right's understanding of the proper role of the courts. This agenda, reminiscent of the old "Impeach Earl Warren" drives of past years, is being pushed by "Christian nation" propagandist David Barton, radio counselor James Dobson of focus on the family, Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry and their allies,

Their chance of success -- that is, the removal of judges from office -- is somewhat slim, but Weyrich argues that the campaign itself could intimidate judges into hewing to the Religious Right line.

The most radical wing of the court bashers calls for an even more extreme measure -- open defiance of court rulings. Influenced by radical Christian Reconstructionist theology, these activists think "lower magistrates" -- elected officials and judges at the state and local level - have the biblical, legal and moral right to refuse to obey orders from the federal government if those orders violate "God's law." They seem to be pushing for armed confrontations and perhaps even the Overthrow of the secular government.

There is no evidence to link Gov. James directly to this movement, but his rhetoric and plans show some similarities.

James has indicated to the news media that he would welcome a showdown with the federal government over the religion issue. The Mobile Register said the governor is pledging his "maximum effort" to keep the Ten Commandments in the courtroom and indicated that he might defy both the state and the federal courts if necessary.

James told Register reporters that President Clinton could call his hand by federalizing the National Guard in Alabama, but he didn't think Clinton would do so due to public opinion.

"The president certainly has a legal right to nationalize the Guard," James said, "but I want to see a sitting president do that."

Such brinkmanship, the governor asserted, could force the president and Congress to take a stand on the church-state issues. "This would force the executive branch, and later the legislative branch, into addressing the issue," James said.

The governor suggested that his ultimate goal is to overturn the Supreme Court's decisions on church and state, complaining that citizens didn't do enough to fight the court's 1962 and '63 decisions against public school-sponsored prayer and Bible reading.

"You know, we complained about it, but there was no real action taken, and I would not want to see the same mistake made again," he told The Birmingham News. "It's time to challenge the government or the court's hostility toward God."

Some in Congress are champing at the bit to do their part. U. S. Rep. Ernest Jim Istook (R-Okla.) wrote James to commend his stand. "My heart and prayers are with you, to assure that our rights to pray and to acknowledge our religious heritage are not taken away when we step onto public property," observed Istook. "I commend you and so many other Alabamans for having the courage of your convictions." Istook is the leading proponent of a constitutional amendment to repeal the current church-state provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

James has also drawn accolades from a fellow Southern governor. South Carolina Gov. David M. Beasley sent a letter commending the Alabamian's stand and noting that a copy of the Ten Commandments is posted outside Beasley's office.

"It hangs just outside my office door, reminding me each day of the laws God handed down thousands of years ago. If our nation had more people like you and Judge Moore asking people to pay attention to these laws, many of our country's problems would be solved," said Beasley. "To borrow one of your phrases, it would take the force of arms to remove my copy of the Ten Commandments -- and I would be right there on the front line!"

For the time being, the Alabama battle is on legal hold. The state Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the order barring religious activities in the Etowah County courtroom, so a showdown is not imminent.

To Gov. James, however, it's the calm before the storm. He said of the controversy, "It's one of those little things now that no one pays much attention to. But it's like a hurricane, you know, originating off the coast of Africa. It's just a little disturbance, then it becomes a tropical storm and gets into the Gulf I'm saying this has the potential for that."