good article about the total hypocrisy of the federal government regarding religion.

[MORTARDUDE]

the ACLU should get rid of all of this before sticking its nose in Alabama


this is the caption for the picture at the bottom


By Dennis Cook/AP

References to God, such as this statue of Moses on the Supreme Court building, are not at all a rarity.

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http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/nation_...205239,00.html

God quite survives the courts
By Siobhan McDonough, The Associated Press

August 24, 2003WASHINGTON - Americans pledge allegiance to "one nation under God." U.S. currency says "In God We Trust." Congress opens each day's work with a prayer, including this recent exaltation: "Blessed is the nation whose God is Lord." Even the high court that decides how much God can be in public lives starts off each session with, "God save the United States and this honorable court," and displays a frieze that includes a depiction of Moses as the lawgiver, holding tablets with the Ten Commandments.

Whatever the eventual outcome of the battle over the Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama state Judicial Building, religious symbols and words will continue to be embedded in the government, the courts and other public places. God is in the details - even the grand designs - of the republic. Some of the expressions of religion are widely accepted as part of American traditions - a kind of cultural deity - like a president taking office with the oath, "So help me God." Others - school prayer, Christian icons in town squares, President Bush's turn to religious charities for social services - bring on pitched legal battles or at least a feisty debate over the separation of church and state. Members of Congress who engage in that debate do so after a prayerful beginning to their day. A recent prayer in the Senate asked, "Fill our God-shaped void with Your presence and bid our striving to cease." On the same day in the House, members bowed their heads to the plea that "You, Lord, will lead, guide and direct them in their affairs." Around the country, state courthouses are decorated with religious art - although nothing quite like the 5,300-pound granite monument that made its debut in Alabama about two years ago and re-ignited the debate over when God is welcome in public places. Alabama's associate Supreme Court justices ordered the Ten Commandments monument removed from the the state judicial building Thursday, after Chief Justice Roy Moore refused to take down the granite marker he had put up. Moore finally relented Friday evening, saying he would not try to block the removal. But a spokesman for Moore also said Friday that the judge still intends to formally appeal the federal removal order to the U.S. Supreme Court. There has been some allowance for references to God in older symbols of the nation. "Over the last 200 years, our conception of what's appropriate separation has changed," says David Campbell, who teaches political science at the University of Notre Dame. These are mere "vestiges" of a past when religion and government were more entangled. While God is in many places, in courtrooms it's a very delicate matter, says John Langan, professor of ethics at Georgetown University. "People feel very vulnerable there," he said. "They need reassurance they won't be discriminated against and that their values will be taken seriously." But, Langan says, people don't consider religious words or signs on currency a threat. "You buy the same things with the money whether it has the same message or not. You don't have to worry about it. No one is going to ask you if you're Protestant, Catholic, Jewish or Muslim. They'll just take the money." Even so, religious references on money are rare outside of fundamentalist Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia. America's Declaration of Independence in 1776 presupposed that people believed in a divinity. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights . . ." But the Constitution says nothing about religion except to guarantee its free exercise, and its only reference to a higher power was a much used expression. "Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven."

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Great Figures Gaze Upon the Court
By Joan Biskupic, Washington Post Staff Writer

[From left: Napolean Bonaparte, John Marshall, William Blackstone, Right of Man, Hugo Grotius, Louis IX, King John.]
(Fred J. Maroon)

In the Supreme Court's white marble courtroom, the nine sitting justices are not the only presiding presence. At the center of the nation's legal system, high above the justices' mahogany bench, the great lawgivers of history are depicted in marble friezes.

From Hammurabi to Moses to John Marshall, the stone sculptures commemorate written law as a force for stability in human affairs. The larger-than-life artworks, designed by architectural sculptor Adolph A. Weinman as the courthouse was being built in the early 1930s, convey the idea that, while the law begins with individuals, its principles never die.

The 18 lawgivers looking down on the justices are divided into two friezes of ivory-colored, Spanish marble. On the south wall, to the right of incoming visitors, are figures from the pre-Christian era -- Menes, Hammurabi, Moses, Solomon, Lycurgus, Solon, Draco, Confucius and Octavian (Caesar Augustus). On the north wall to the left are lawmakers of the Christian era -- Napoleon Bonaparte, Marshall, William Blackstone, Hugo Grotius, Louis IX, King John, Charlemagne, Muhammad and Justinian.

Interspersed with the lawgivers are angels representing concepts such as philosophy, liberty and peace.

Occupying nearly the highest point of the luminous, gold-edged room, above the 30-foot Ionic columns, the friezes inspire awe. When Sherman Minton, a Supreme Court justice from 1949 to 1956, pointed out the friezes to his grandson, the 10-year-old asked the predictable question, "Granddaddy! Where's God?"

John Paul Stevens, a justice since 1975, once reflected on the friezes' mingling of the religious and secular. "[A] carving of Moses holding the Ten Commandments, if that is the only adornment on a courtroom wall, conveys an equivocal message, perhaps of respect for Judaism, for religion in general or for law," Stevens wrote in a 1989 case involving the First Amendment's prohibition on some religious symbols in government buildings.

"The addition of carvings depicting Confucius and Muhammad may honor religion, or particular religions, to an extent that the First Amendment does not tolerate. Placement of secular figures such as Caesar Augustus, William Blackstone, Napoleon Bonaparte and John Mar-hall alongside these three religious leaders, however, signals respect not for great proselytizers but for great lawgivers."

George Gurney, a curator of sculpture at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art, notes that a certain "vocabulary" existed for courthouses and other architecture of the Beaux Arts period.

"The idea of tracing the history of law or of justice was an important feature in spelling out the purpose of the building," he said recently, adding that architects preferred some standard law figures, notably Hammurabi.

The 60-year-old choice of notables in the friezes has held up over time. Other than a brief controversy about Muhammad last year, the friezes have generated little public complaint. A coalition of Muslim groups asked the court to sandblast or otherwise remove the depiction of Muhammad, contending that it was a form of sacrilege because graven images are forbidden in Islam and that believers might be encouraged to pray to someone other than God, or Allah in Arabic.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist rejected the request, saying the Muhammad sculpture "was intended only to recognize him, among many other lawgivers, as an important figure in the history of law; it is not intended as a form of idol worship."

The friezes, overall, reflect the ideal of certainty in the law.

"As you sit in the courtroom, perhaps looking up as you wait for the justices to come into the room, you see these friezes," said Dennis Hutchinson, a University of Chicago law professor. "And it strikes you that there is some relationship between Charlemagne and [Justice Antonin] Nino Scalia. The two individuals, whether dressed in armor [as in the frieze] or a sitting justice, are both engaged in a very earnest struggle for clarity and wisdom."

Here then, are the individuals in the friezes and their contribution to the law, starting with those on the south wall, left to right:


Menes (c. 3100 B.C.)

The first figure in the depiction on the south wall, Menes founded Egypt's first dynasty. As the first king of the earliest nation-state, Menes personifies the idea of a centralized government and political system -- the necessary basis for any coherentt set of laws. Menes also was known as Narmer and is credited with founding the first imperial city, Memphis, near modern Cairo.

Hammurabi (c. 1792-1750 B.C.)


Reigning in Babylon, Hammurabi produced the first surviving set of laws. A compilation of legal procedure and penalties, the Code of Hammurabi covered all civil and criminal disputes and reflected the then-novel belief that law can be fixed and certain, rather than a series of random responses by political leaders to various forms of conduct.

Underlying his criminal penalties was the idea of equal retaliation, such as "an eye for an eye." French explorers unearthed a black stone slab containing the code in Susa, Persia, around the turn of this century. The slab is on display in Paris at the Louvre.


Moses (c. 2250 B.C.)


According to biblical accounts, the great Hebrew prophet delivered his people from slavery and received the Ten Commandments. His figure on the frieze is meant to suggest existence of a higher authority, beyond human control. The Ten Commandments are a recurring theme at the Supreme Court building, appearing in the brass doors to the courtroom. Some of the ancient commandments have descendants in modern law, such as penalties against murder and theft.


Solomon (c. 992-953 B.C.)


Regarded as a great king of Israel, Solomon's name is synonymous with judicial wisdom. The Bible says that, when two harlots claimed to be the mother of the same child, Solomon determined who was the mother by watching the women's responses to his suggestion that he cut the baby in half and give each a share. It was a test, designed to reveal the true mother. One woman agreed to the plan while the other yielded her claim.


Lycurgus (c. 800 B.C.)


A leading statesman of Sparta in ancient Greece, Lycurgus guided reform of the Spartan constitution and instituted more efficient public administration. According to legend, he believed that the most serious crime of all was retreat in battle.


Solon (c. 638-559 B.C.)


The Athenian, whose name survives as a synonym for "legislator," codified the laws of the Greeks and is credited with laying the foundation for the world's first democracy. Solon ended exclusive aristocratic control of the government, substituting an early and limited form of democracy in which wealthier citizens governed.


Draco (late 600s B.C.)


Another prominent legislator in Athens, Draco was the first to write an Athenian code of laws. But his harsh rules punished some trivial crimes with death, and Draco was known as an absolutist, hence the word "Draconian," meaning extremely severe or cruel.


Confucius (551-479 B.C.)


The Chinese lawgiver taught a comprehensive system of ideas for government and society that drew on religious, ethical, political and social influences. At the core of his teachings was belief in balance and an assertion that individual dedication to basic virtues, such as family loyalty, thrift and hard work, would cure social ills.

He said people in government should lead by example and emphasized a morality embodied in the idea that a person should not do to others what he would not want done to him. This so-called golden rule has arisen in many cultures worldwide.


Octavian(63 B.C.-14 A.D.)


The first emperor of Rome, also called Caesar Augustus, restored order to the republic and modernized many aspects of Roman life. He gave judges a new professional, authoritative role and supported their following decisions of previous cases to determine the outcome of new disputes. Adherence to precedent, one of the overriding principles of the modern Supreme Court, builds integrity in the law and inspires public respect for the court as an institution.


The nine lawgivers on the north wall, right to left, are:


Justinian (c. 483-565)


The Byzantine emperor codified Roman law and published Corpus Juris Civilis ("Body of Civil Law"), a coherent code that became the basis for modern civil law. His comprehensive work, in addition to efforts to root out corruption and make the law more understandable and accessible, inspired the term "justice," a play on his name.


Muhammad (570-632)


In Muslim tradition, this great prophet received the sacred scriptures of the Koran from God. The fundamental tenet of Islam, which covers all private and public behavior, is submission to the will of God. After last year's controversy about the image of Muhammad, the Supreme Court included this explanation in tourist materials: "The figure is a well-intentioned attempt by the sculptor to honor Muhammad, and it bears no resemblance to Muhammad. Muslims generally have a strong aversion to sculptured or pictured representations of their Prophet."


Charlemagne (c. 742-814)


The Roman emperor and king of the Franks, also known as Charles the Great, conquered and Christianized much of western Europe in the Middle Ages, restoring order and learning to the fragmented Roman Empire. As he amassed military and political power, he forged a cultural renaissance crucial in development of modern Europe.


King John (1166-1216)


Ruler of England from 1199 to 1216, King John signed the Magna Carta, which elevated the importance of individual rights and the concept of due process -- the idea that laws must be administered in the same way for all. Magna Carta eventually inspired American colonists to create a government of fixed laws that would protect people from the caprice of a nation's leaders. King John's signature on the document in 1215 came only after a revolt, but by sealing it, he ensured that neither he nor any future sovereign in England would be above the law.


Louis IX (1213-1270)


King of France from 1226 to 1270, Louis IX led the seventh crusade to the Holy Land. He instituted a regular court of justice and, among his administrative reforms, sought to end abuses by legal officials in his domain. The right to appeal a verdict in all cases traces to his reign. He was canonized as Saint Louis.


Hugo Grotius (1583-1645)


A Dutch lawyer, Grotius wrote De jure belli ac pacis ("Concerning the Law of War and Peace") in 1625, the basis of modern international law. Grotius personifies the idea that nations are bound by common interests and mutual, enforceable agreements. He also believed that nations were compelled by a "natural law," that is, a law based on humanity's nature.


William Blackstone (1723-1780)


The author of the four-volume Commentaries on the Law of England, Blackstone made the law more accessible to common people. His writings, a clear and systematic description of the state of English law, had a major influence in his country and in American colonies. Blackstone is considered one of the first to intellectualize and explain the law. American courts continue to cite his work.


John Marshall (1755-1835)


Fourth chief justice of the United States, Marshall is considered the court's greatest leader. His opinion in Marbury v. Madison (1803), the first of his great cases, established the power of the Supreme Court to review laws for constitutionality, establishing the court's power to say what the law is.

During his 35 years on the court, Marshall was instrumental in developing a unified body of constitutional law, strengthening the federal system and, most significantly for justices to come, generating public respect for the nascent Supreme Court.


Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)


Emperor of France, Napoleon is celebrated and demonized for his warfare. But his legacy in the law is an 1804 civil code that influenced laws in Europe, Latin America and, to a lesser degree, the United States. Louisiana's unique civil code traces to the Napoleonic Code. Among its overriding principles were personal freedom, the ability to make contracts, equality among citizens and an end to church control of civilian institutions.

Bernard Schwartz, the late University of Tulsa law professor and an expert on court history who believed that the choice of the 18 lawgivers held up, observed that Napoleon once said, "My true glory is not to have won 40 battles . . . . Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories . . . . But what nothing will destroy, what will live forever, is my Civil Code."

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Muhammad's Image inside the US Supreme Court

Muhammad's image is the third from the far right. The bearded Prophet is shown with a cap. Justinian is standing next to Mohammad on the right with a staff on his hand. On extreme right is the image of three unidentified person including a child.

[BLUEHAWK]

Absolutely fantastic information people, just great!

Thanks so much!

[SuperScout]

Kind sir, you have done a magnificient service, not only to this site, but to a much larger population, by bringing this absolutely stunning article to the attention of all to see. Its eloquence can only serve as an accusatory finger in the eye of any federal court that will try to practice the art of denial.