By Staff
By: Brian Blackley
Publisher
Despite the fact that I get about two tons of mail and faxes a week n not including 70 or so emails a day n sometimes there are hidden gems in the piles.
This week, it was a fax that caught my attention. Without getting too specific about its origin, the document came from an Alabama Christian organization and was an op-ed piece about Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore.
I have developed a dangerous habit in the months before and following Moore's election to the bench. When in need for material for a column that comes with my mournful sigh, "It's Tuesday again?", I have taken to picking on Moore with zeal and fervor that reminds me that I must really love politics.
At any rate, the literature could be said to offer a defense of Moore. But more realistically, it attacks those who oppose him, saying such groups as "gays, lesbians and the NAACP" are all sided together against Moore. It's the kind of thing that makes my skin crawl.
I am not gay and for obvious reasons I am not a lesbian either. I don't know if you know this, but you may inspect the rather gloomy photo that accompanies this column and reflect upon my Anglican-sounding last name and conclude that I am not a minority.
Neither am I a liberal, a fascist, a member of the KKK, nor a communist. I'm just a garden variety Southern guy who believes in a reasonably normal set of values and ideals.
But I take offense to Moore and to any "Christian" organization that would attack those who disagree with Moore.
In a nutshell, I think Roy Moore has thumped his Bible louder than anyone else, not because he believes in its content, but because he can thump it louder than anyone else.
I was taught that Christianity was humility, respect for others and their ideas and acceptance.
I don't know where Roy Moore goes to church, but his house of worship is a long way from mine.
At any rate, Moore and his coalition of Christian organizations are seeking to run roughshod over those who think they're out of line by calling them names, belittling their ideas and seeking to cast doubt on their credibility.
The difference between Moore and others who do the same thing is that Moore claims that his actions are divine inspirations while people like me openly admit that we know better than to call Moore names behind his back, but sometimes self-control is overcome by a need for honesty. I think he's a scoundrel of the worst sort who plays on people's passionate spiritual beliefs, their fears and their prejudices (like those against minorities, homosexuals and others) in order to get votes.
I am not a fan of the gay movement, the NAACP or other left-wing organizations that Moore and his cohorts are dedicated to kicking. That said, if given a choice between those groups setting policy and letting Moore do it, I'd toss Moore out on his ear.
But more Alabamians agree with Moore than with me, or the guy wouldn't be in office. He is, if nothing else, a powerful figure albeit a misguided one.
I think it is a sad day for the state of Alabama, that he has the same winning combination that ushered Wallace to the governor's mansion.
I don't pretend to have all the right answers for a better Alabama or for our judicial system. But if Roy Moore is what our state needs, God help us all. And I am referring to my God, not his. I don't think they're one and the same. Unfortunately, by the time I know who's right, I won't be able to share my insight with those left standing.
But it won't be for lack of begging and trying.
Brian Blackley is the publisher of The Atmore Advance. He can be reached via telephone at 368-2123, or via email at brian.blackley@atmoreadvance.com