Expert: Austin Cline - 5/7/2006

Question
After reading an article you wrote regarding Judge Roy Moore, I was pricked to ask a question:
If America were to follow this "separation of church and state" idea, as it is defined in our era, then how would judges ever be able to distinguish right from wrong without the church?  e.g., If someone wants to murder another person, because it is within their personal beliefs to practice murder, who's business is it to say that it is wrong?  And what is "wrong" for that matter?  The first American government must have thought it was pretty important to acknowledge Who defines right and wrong, as they took care to insure every denomination of money was inscribed with the well-known US motto.  So I care deeply that America not forget the Ten Commandments, and the like.  I would encourage everyone to re-evaluate Jefferson's statement regarding the "separation of church and state" by allowing the context in which he lived to define the meaning, and not the 21st century's.  Thanks.

Answer
1. Most people through history have managed to discern right and wrong without the Bible. Neither the Bible, nor Christianity, nor religion generally are required for this.

2. Judges are supposed to focus upon the law, and the American legal code does not need the Bible in order to interpret it properly. Whatever personal comfort or values a judge may derive from a Bible or a Quran, when it comes to rendering judgment in a case they must set that aside in favor of the law books.

3. The first American government did not ensure that every denomination of money was inscribed with this phrase - you don't know your history very well. The phrase was first put on a few coins around World War II. The phrase itself wasn't adopted as a motto and put on everything until the 1950s. Most of American history proceeded without the motto and without the phrase appearing on money - so taking it away would only restore things how they originally were.

4. If you care deeply about the Ten Commandments, then use them in your life. The government, however, does not have the authority to endorse them, to endorse any particular version of them (you do know that there are several, right?), or to endorse any particular interpretation of them (there are quite a few).