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Moses Image (With 10 Commandments) Adorns U.S. Supreme Court Building
Self ^ | 8/20/2003 | Angkor

Posted on 08/20/2003 2:43:26 PM PDT by angkor

With regard to today's refusal to hear the case against Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, the court has at least delayed a legal decision about defacing its own hallowed halls.

It is likely well-known to the justices that the East Pediment of the Supreme Court showcases the image of Moses bearing the two tablets upon which the 10 Commandments are enscribed. In fact, Moses is front and center and indeed the largest figure in the entire sculpture.

Ironically, the Chief Justice's offices are immediately behind this portico.

Moses center stage on the USSC East Pediment, brandishing his illegal "Ten Commandments."

The sculpture, "Justice the Guardian of Liberty" by Herman McNeil contains the following elements (in McNeil's own words):

Law as an element of civilization was normally and naturally derived or inherited in this country from former civilizations. The “Eastern Pediment” of the Supreme Court Building suggests therefore the treatment of such fundamental laws and precepts as are derived from the East. Moses, Confucius and Solon are chosen as representing three great civilizations and form the central group of this Pediment. Flanking this central group— left — is the symbolical figure bearing the means of enforcing the law. On the right a group tempering justice with mercy, allegorically treated. The “Youth” is brought into both these groups to suggest the “Carrying on” of civilization through the knowledge imbibed of right and wrong. The next two figures with shields; Left — The settlement of disputes between states through enlightened judgment. Right — Maritime and other large functions of the Supreme Court in protection of the United States. The last figures: Left — Study and pondering of judgments. Right — A tribute to the fundamental and supreme character of this Court. Finale — The fable of the Tortoise and the Hare.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: americanhistory; art; catholiclist; commandments; constitution; doublestandard; firstammendment; freedomfromreligion; historicalbasis; history; hypocrisy; judeochristian; law; lawgiver; mediabias; pc; politicallycorrect; religiousheritage; religiousintolerance; revisionism; sculpture; supremecourt; tencommandments
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1 posted on 08/20/2003 2:43:26 PM PDT by angkor
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To: angkor
Moses, Confucius and Solon are chosen as representing three great civilizations and form the central group of this Pediment.

All Moore's got to do is put Confucius and Solon alongside the 10 Commandments, and he'll likely be OK.

But, of course, Moore won't do that, which is why there's a problem.

2 posted on 08/20/2003 2:47:20 PM PDT by sinkspur (Get two dogs and be part of a pack!)
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To: angkor
Don't confuse the court system with the facts.
An excellent find!
3 posted on 08/20/2003 2:48:44 PM PDT by Zathras
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To: angkor
those wouldnt be the very same commandments in Mose's hands that Judge Moore is fighting to keep in his courthouse would they?
Seems to me the Feds ought to clean their own houses first....as long as they are willing to push America into worshiping the gods of paganism and atheism
4 posted on 08/20/2003 2:52:21 PM PDT by joesnuffy (Moderate Islam Is For Dilettantes)
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To: angkor
It is of course well worth noting that this is a secular display of lawgivers (both religious and non-religious figures are in it), as opposed to a religious display of the laws themselves. There are other such displays in the Supreme Court building. One has Moses, Mohammed, Jesus, Hammiraubi, etc. in it. This is galling to the Moslems, for whom any representation of Mohammed's features is forbidden under Sharia. Their petition to have it taken out of the frieze was denied years ago.
5 posted on 08/20/2003 3:09:28 PM PDT by RonF
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To: sinkspur
Who is shaping the culture?

What does the culture now look like?

How do they decide what shape to make it?

Is any part of the shape based on opinion and not on demonstrable fact?

What is the difference between opinion and belief?

Is the presence of belief evidence of the presence of a religiosity?
6 posted on 08/20/2003 3:11:57 PM PDT by xzins (In the Beginning was the Word)
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To: RonF
this is a secular display of lawgivers

Are you saying that displaying the laws alone should be illegal, but showing the lawgivers (with those very laws in hand) should not?

7 posted on 08/20/2003 3:13:56 PM PDT by angkor
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To: joesnuffy
The protesters are being forcibly removed from the Supreme Court Building right now.Local Fox station from Birmingham has live pictures. I bet the monument will be gone when the sun comes up.
8 posted on 08/20/2003 3:14:20 PM PDT by Quigley
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To: sinkspur
All Moore's got to do is put Confucius and Solon alongside the 10 Commandments, and he'll likely be OK.

Au contraire, mon ami! It is likely that someone will complain that it is patently unfair that Moses is front and center.

9 posted on 08/20/2003 3:21:28 PM PDT by Sangamon Kid
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To: RonF
It is of course well worth noting that this is a secular display of lawgivers (both religious and non-religious figures are in it), as opposed to a religious display of the laws themselves. There are other such displays in the Supreme Court building. One has Moses, Mohammed, Jesus, Hammiraubi, etc. in it.

The Ten Commandments are depicted in three locations on the United States Supreme Court building. There is a big oak door separating the courtroom from the central hallway where the Ten Commandments are depicted alone.


10 posted on 08/20/2003 3:25:42 PM PDT by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: Quigley
Woe to the one who does the removing.
11 posted on 08/20/2003 4:07:08 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
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To: angkor
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, 1789-1793

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1789

The Speaker laid before the House a copy of the Speech of the President of the United States, to both Houses of Congress, delivered yesterday in the Senate chamber, immediately after Iris inauguration, as followeth:

Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties, than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the fourteenth day of the present month.--On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years; a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health, to the gradual waste committed on it by time.--On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens, a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence, one, who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unpractised in rite duties of civil administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all I dare aver, is, that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope, is, that, if in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or By an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well ms disinclination, for the weighty and untried cares before me; my error will be palliated by the motives which misled me, and its consequences be judged by my country, with some share of the partiality in which they originated.

Such being the impressions trader which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station; it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent suplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe--who presides in the councils of nations--and whose providential aids can supply every human defect--that his benediction may consecrate to rite liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration, to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow citizens at large,less than either. No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men, more than the People of the United States, Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. And in the important revolution just accomplished, in the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations, and voluntary consent of so many distiller communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot he compared with the means by which most Governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude, along with humble anticipation of the fixture blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free Government can more auspiciously commence.

By the article establishing the Executive Department, it is made the duty of the President, " to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The circumstances trader which I now meet you, will acquit me from entering into that subject, further than to refer to the great constitutional character nuclei which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism, which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications, I behold the surest pledges that, as on one side no local prejudices or attachments--no separate views, nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over tiffs great assemblage of communities and interests; so on another, that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality; and the pre-eminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire: Since there is no truth more thoroughly established, than first there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity Slid felicity: Since we ought to be no less persuaded, that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American People.

Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide, how far an exercise of the occasional power, delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution, is rendered expedient at the present juncture, by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquiotude which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good. For I assure myself, that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration, which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective Government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience; a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen, and a regard for the public harmony, will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question, how far the former can be more impregnably fortified, or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted?

To the preceding observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House Representatives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible. When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty, required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed. And being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline, as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the Executive Department; and must accordingly pray, that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed, may, during my continuance in it, be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require.

Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human race, in humble supplication, that since he has been pleased to favor the American People with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government, for the security of their union, and the advancement of their happiness; so his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures, on which the success of this Government must depend.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

On motion,

Resolved, That the said speech be committed to the consideration of a committee of the whole House, immediately.

The House accordingly resolved itself into the said committee.

Mr. Speaker left the chair.

Mr. Page took the chair of the committee.

Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Page reported that the committee had, according to order, laid the said speech under consideration, and had come to a resolution thereupon; which he delivered in at the Clerk's table, where the same was twice read, and, on a question put thereupon, agreed to by the House, as followeth:

"Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that an address to the President ought to he prepared, expressing the congratulations of the House of Representatives, on the distinguished proof given him of the affection and confidence of his fellow-citizens, by the unanimous suffrage which has appointed him to the high station which he fills; the approbation felt by the House of the patriotic sentiments and enlightened policy recommended by his speech; and assuring him of their disposition to concur in giving effect to every measure which may tend to secure the liberties, promote the harmony, and advance the happiness and prosperity of their country."

Ordered, That a committee, to consist of five members, be appointed, to prepare an address pursuant to the said resolution;

The members elected, Mr. Madison, Mr. Clymer, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Gale, and Mr. Benson.

Another member, to wit, Samuel Livermore, from New Hampshire, appeared and took his seat.

A motion was made that the House do come to the following resolution:

Resolved, That -- per annum be the compensation to be allowed to the President of the United States, during the time for which he is elected.

And the said motion being read at the Clerk's table, was ordered to be committed to a Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.

The House then, according to the order of the day, proceeded by ballot to the appointment Of a Chaplain to Congress on the part of this House; and upon examining the ballots, a majority of the votes of the whole House was found in favor of the Rev. William Linn.

Ordered, That the Clerk of this House do acquaint the Senate therewith.

And then the House adjourned until Monday morning eleven o'clock.


12 posted on 08/20/2003 4:07:11 PM PDT by michigander
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To: angkor
This too in time will be removed just like in the USSR when the communist party ruled and outlawed religion!!
13 posted on 08/20/2003 4:42:08 PM PDT by RoseofTexas (I)
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To: angkor
VERY good post.
14 posted on 08/20/2003 4:46:04 PM PDT by maui_hawaii
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To: RonF
It is of course well worth noting that this is a secular display of lawgivers (both religious and non-religious figures are in it), as opposed to a religious display of the laws themselves.

How can we tell the difference ? It seems to me that the only way to tell for sure that the Moore display isn't history or art is because we know Moore's intentions. Such intentions should however be irrelevant.

But back to your point. Isn't it a bit like claiming the SC is only partially pregnant ?

15 posted on 08/20/2003 5:56:29 PM PDT by VRWC_minion (Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and most are right)
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To: RonF
Secular? Which one?
16 posted on 08/20/2003 6:33:08 PM PDT by cornelis
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To: angkor
That is in WASHINGTON, DC!! Don't you dare criticise DC!

That is a special place, for special people, which has it's own special rules. The problem that these special people are trying to address is in Hicksville, Alabama, where a few uppity Christian rednecks need controlling.

Got it?

17 posted on 08/20/2003 6:41:23 PM PDT by Byron_the_Aussie (http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup2.html)
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To: sinkspur
Hey Sinky, got anything better to do than hanging around FR, waiting to put an early troll post on every Ten Commandments thread that goes up?
18 posted on 08/20/2003 6:42:43 PM PDT by Byron_the_Aussie (http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup2.html)
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To: Byron_the_Aussie
Hey Sinky, got anything better to do than hanging around FR, waiting to put an early troll post on every Ten Commandments thread that goes up?

Nah. I relish any opportunity to get under your thin skin.

19 posted on 08/20/2003 6:47:50 PM PDT by sinkspur (Get two dogs and be part of a pack!)
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To: sinkspur
..I relish any opportunity to get under your thin skin...

Puh-leez.

You're Tpaine Lite, buddy.

20 posted on 08/20/2003 6:49:57 PM PDT by Byron_the_Aussie (http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup2.html)
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