Show nm fcfawf tmMtfi liwfa rommifflini Z" Monday April 26 2004 A4 r The Herald Journal tCiLu-- Commentary EVERYTHING ON IRAQIS Thou shall not SOLD OUT SOMETHING ON VIETNAM INSTEAD? 38 revise history w to undo many federal and Supreme Court decisions — such as Moore's case While the bill is unlikely to pass this year it does suggest the emeig- ing contours of the debate By Frederick Clarkson Christian Science Monitor us the United Stales founded as a "Christian nation'"’ For many conservative Christians there is no question about it In fact this is one of the primary ideas animating and Although Moore's movement has gained some political traction its core premise has a fundamental flaw: It aims to “restore" a Christian con- stitution that never existed And this presents challenges for Moore and his allies as they attempt to invoke the framers of the Constitution in support of their contemporary notions of a Biblically based society Last August for example James Dobson head of Focus on the Family rallied with Moore in front of the Alabama state courthouse “I checked yesterday with my research team" Dr Dobson announced ‘There are only two references to religion in the Constitution” The First from the preamble he said refers to securing “the blessings of liberty’’ which he asserted “came from God” (although there is nothing in the ddeument to support that view) The other was the First Amendment's establishment clause that he said “has given such occa- sion for mischief by the Supreme informing the Christian right in the 1 S We are likely to hear a great deal about it this election year — thanks to Kov Moore the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who is at the center (if a national campaign to alter the course of history Depending on whom you talk to Mr Moore is alternately a hero a crackpot or a demagogue Whatever one's view Moore known to many as “the Ten Com- mandments judge" has come to per: sonify a revisionist view of American history — one that if it gains wide currency threatens to erode the culture and constitutional principle of religious pluralism in the US ' Moore’s story is already' the stuff of legend After being elected chief momi- justice he had a 5280-poun- d nient to the Ten Commandments installed in the rotunda of Alabama's state judicial buildirig Moore insisted he had a First Amendment right to "acknowledge Ciod" as the “moral foundation of law" The result of the inevitable lawsuit was US District Judge : - RP Crime victims have rights too By Joseph Perkins Newspaper Enterprise Association T proceeding It also establishes a victim's right to be notified of any release or escape of their offender to be heard at any public proceeding involving a release plea sentencing reprieve or pardon to confer with the government prosecutor in the case and to full and timely restitution from the convicted offender If those planks sound familiar it's because they have been included in a proposed constitutional amendment that Sens Dianne Feinstein have tried to and John Kyi get their fellow senators to pass since - JL he mother of Kobe Bryant’s alleged rape victim spoke publicly for the First time this week at a Col- orado event marking national Crime Victims’ Rights Week “Victims’ rights are about changing and rewriting laws to give victims equal protection under the missed or ignored — Article Six of the Constitution That's the one barring religious tests for public office and set in motion disestablish- ment of the Christian churches that had served as arbiters of colonial citizenship and government for ISO ' D-Ca-lif R-A- law” she said Last month the mother sent a letter to the judge presiding over the trial of the Lbs Angeles Lakers star beseech- ing him to set a trial date — - sooner rather later — so that her daughter can get her ordeal over with and move on with her life As it is the mother informed the judge her daughter’s life was in peril — in fact she has been the target of scheme at least one contract-murd— and she has been forced to move from state to state to escape private investigators hired by Bryant not to mention the ravenous news and entertainment media Against that backdrop the US Senate this week agreed to move for-ward legislation that would codify certain rights of crime Victims whose advocates complain — right- fully so — that the scales of justice are tilted decidedly in favor of the ' criminally accused The legislation would give crime victims the right to be “reasonably protected” from their accused offender to he notified of any public proceeding involving the crime and not to he excluded from any such Mainstream historian Gary Wills writes that the framers’ major innovation was “disestablishment" 1996 Yet another effort to win passage of a Victims’ Rights Amendment ' “No other government in the history of the world” he writes “had launched itself without the help of officially recognized gods and their state connected ministers” Christian Right historian Gary North agrees The ratification of the Constitution was a “judicial break with Christian America” Article Six provided a “legal barrier to Christian theocracy" leading “directly to the rise of religious plumlism” he declares in “Political Polytheism: The Myth of Pluralism” Indeed history shows that the framers of the Constitution sought to establish religious equality among citizens and in government But as Christian nationalists seek to eviscerate the capacity of federal courts to protect the religious freedom and equality of all Americans we can expect that one of (heir main tactics and goals will continue to be the revision of history itself failed to muster sufficient Senate support this week so supporters set- tied for victims’ rights legislation And even a federal victims’ rights law — rather than a constitutional amendment — has drawn the fire of groups who place the legal interests of criminals above those of crime victims Like of course the American Civil Liberties Union While the demise of the Victims’ Rights Amendment is “welcome news” ACLU legislative analyst Terri Ann Schroeder told the Associated Press the alternative to which the Senate compromised “is er Frederick Clarkson is the author pf "Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Jheocracy and Democracy" 'Restoration mm - 200 years AeTWrtuldbe retroactive apparently i saaisssss--- ©THE CINCINNATI However Dobson's researchers rock he was removed from office' Judge Thompson got it right But Moore and his allies see the decision as a defining moment in their campaign 'to “overthrow' judicial tyraft- ny" At stake over the long haul is the authority of the courts to protect individual civil rights against reli- gious and political majoritarianism On one front leaders on the Christian Right are organizing Ten Commandments rallies across the country The charismatic VIH)re is often the ' headliner Arecent rally in Dallas dil’w StMK) people Meanwhile in Congress-tlRep Robert Adcrholl (R) and Sen Richard Shelby ( R)both of Alabama have introduced a hill I w i itlcn by Moore and his lawyer) that Would remove jurisdic- -' lion from ilieledvril courts oyer ajl nialtersinyoTving the "acknowledge- ment ol ( i kI" in the public arena including school prayer the pledgeof allegiance aiid'lhe posting of the Ten ConunaiiiiliMi'nts'm public ' 1III1IIIIII Court" Myron Thompson's decision that Moore had violated the establish- ment clause of the First Amendment by creating “a religious sanctuary w ithin the walls of a courthouse" When Moore refused to remove the y iiiuimvoi - still problematic” " ' By grantinjg rights to those who have been raped or robbed or assaulted or murdered Congress will : “inject raw emotion into what should be as calm and rational a ’ process aspossible” Schroeder lamented ' Like mast opponents of victims' rights laws the ACLU analyst is guilty of fallacy She suggests that giving crime victims standing under the law will somehow undermine the constitutional protections afforded - i the criminally accused But a federal victims’ rights law will not deny the criminally accused of their right to counsel to due process to a speedy trial or to a jury of their peers It will not deprive them of their protection against unreasonable search and seizure against against double jeopardy or against excessive bail All the victims’ rights law would do is strike a slightly more equitable balance between the rights of the criminally accused --4- like Kobe Bryant — and crime victims Those who' oppose legal codification of victims' rights Who almost always profess to empathize with crime victims- argue that the nation’s founders would have set forth those rights in the Constitution if they deemed it necessary But Feinstein noted during previous Senate debate on victims’ rights that “In 1789 there were not million victims of violent crime each ' year In fact victims of violent crime each year in this country now out-- number the country’s entire population when the Constitution was written” Indeed not in their wildest imagination could the nation’s founders have foreseen just how lawless how violent this country would become Otherwise crime victims wouldn’t have been overlooked in the Bill of Rights The nation's crime victims are worthy of a constitutional amend- ment setting forth their rights A federal victims’ right lawls the least they deserve Joseph Perkins is a Columnist for The San Diego where he is Considered a conservative voice He can be reached at JosephPerkirv Union-Tribu- ne sUnionTribcom Lawmakers V US ' senator at the Seriate:' The Honorable John Doe Utah State Senator Room 319 State Capitol Salt 4 20510 (202) Utah office: 4225 Federal Building 1 25 S State St Salt Lake City UT 84138 (801 ) HOUSE-UTA- H To write your 224-544- Repre- - ' Rob Bishop Republican:1stints 1' Congressional District which includes Cache County Washington office: 124 Cannon House Office Build-in- g US House of Representatives Washington D C' 20515 1202)225-'- 0453: Utah office: 324 25th St Ogden ' 7 Ut '84401 (801 ) 625-010- : ' 524-593- ' Sen Orrin Hatch Republican US Senate Washington DC 205101 Utah office 8402 Fed-er(202) 125 S State Building 0 Lake City UT 84138 (801 ) 224-525- Lake City UT 841 1 4 Senate District 24 (Box Elder Cache Peter C Knudson R- counties) Brigham City 1209 Michelle Drive Brigham City UT 84302 Home phone - al t 723-203- 5 524-438- - Us: SENAT - Sen Robert Behnett Republican U'S'' Senate Washington DC ‘ - UTAHSENATE To call your Utah senator- at the Serv ' 5 ate: (801) ' 538-103- ' T Senate District 25 (Cache Rich Summit counties) — Lyle W Hillyard 175 E100 North Logan UT 84321 Home busk phone-753-004- Non Sequitur r To'''": ' I AlRWi 'RkA tACrrtD 1 : p NCTtNORK UBLRAL NL WN'T SET ) ' UTAH HOUSE To call the Utah House of Represen- 258-501- ' tatives: (801) To write a Utah representative: The Honorable John Doe State Represen- tatjve State Capitol Salt Lake City Utah 84114 ' House District 1 (Cached Box Elder and Tooele counties) — Rep Ben ' 905 N 6800 West Ferry 538-102- 9 Corrine UT 84037 Home phone 744-- ! 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