Roy Moore is Back, Unfortunately

One of these days Roy Moore should just go away. I'm not alone in that sentiment. Moore first became well-known as an Alabama judge who displayed the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, and was removed from office for refusing to stop doing it. Then he was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court, and was removed from office again for refusing to support same-sex marriage rights after they were upheld by the United States Supreme Court. Now he's running for Jeff Sessions' old senate seat, and unfortunately looks to be the front-runner. Slate has an article up today on Moore's latest offensive statement.

In 2003, Alabama judge Roy Moore was removed from office because he insisted on displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. In 2016, he was removed from office again because he refused to enforce the (United States) Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage rights. Now he's running for the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions—he's probably going to win—and saying stuff like this during campaign events:

"We have blacks and whites fighting, reds and yellows fighting, Democrats and Republicans fighting, men and women fighting. What’s going to unite us? What’s going to bring us back together? A president? A Congress? No. It’s going to be God."

Ironically, one way God could improve white Americans' relationships with Native Americans and Americans of Asian ancestry is by coming down hard on people like Roy Moore who still refer to Native Americans and Americans of Asian ancestry by using racial terms that were already considered insulting and antiquated 50 years ago.

Even without the racist bullshit, Moore is still totally full of it. In his world, the only people who matter are those who follow God - that is, his particular interpretation of fundamentalist Christianity. Those of us who follow minority religions, atheists and agnostics, and probably even those who follow the "wrong" strands of Christianity are left out in the cold. I'm never going to convert to Moore's religion, full stop. So his god is not going to be unifying me with anybody or anything. For that matter, mainstream Christians aren't even remotely interested in becoming fundies.

I shouldn't be surprised that Moore is the leading senate candidate in conservative Alabama, but it seems to me that his long history of placing his religion before the law should disqualify him from holding office. Senators swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and Moore has shown repeatedly that he believes in putting his religion ahead of the actual law. Conservatives freak out about even liberal Muslims holding office, but how is Moore's past behavior that different from the principle behind Sharia law?