A face from the past in the present

“When I grew up in the South, I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that women were by nature inferior to men, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it.” –  John Shelby Spong

This is Judge Roy Moore, the man who won the Senate Republican runoff last night in Alabama and for all particular purposes the next Senator for the state. This 70-year-old man is a face from the past still residing in the present.

Here is what you need to know about Alabamians, they love two things, God and college football. When you are born in Alabama your parents must decide, immediately, which team their child will support for the rest of their life, Auburn or Alabama. When you hear the term “mixed-marriage” in the state it refers to an Auburn and Alabama supporter marrying each other. The state is 70+% white, 70+% Christian, rural, poor, and aging quickly. So honestly it was no surprise that the citizens of the state elected a relic from the past to represent them in the present.

Judge Roy Moore has been removed from his position as the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court not once but twice. After being elected in 2001, in 2003 he refused a federal court order to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments he commissioned for the Alabama Judicial Building. He was elected as Chief Justice again in 2013 but was removed in 2016 after directing probate judges to continue to enforce the state’s ban on same-sex marriage despite the fact that it had been overturned by the Supreme Court.

Some of Moore’s more memorable quotes;

1. “Homosexual behavior is crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one’s ability to describe it.”
2. “We have child abuse, we have sodomy, we have murder, we have rape, we have all kind of immoral things happening because we have forgotten God.”
3. “False religions like Islam who teach that you must worship this way are completely opposite with what our First Amendment stands for.”
4. “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.”

After I heard the news last night that this dinosaur had won my first thought was good, the state of Alabama deserves him. Let them keep going backwards. Between God and College football they can’t handle much more intellectual stimulation.

The Deporable Nation and the Evangelicals will view Moore’s election as some sort of national mandate, a movement back to “One Nation Under God”. It isn’t. What it is about is the continued, though fleeting, power of old white people and their archaic ideals. Alabama isn’t a progressive state which wouldn’t be a slight to an Alabamian, hell it would be a badge of honor. Sure they have world-class manufacturing facilities for Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Hyundai and soon for Toyota but that speaks more to cheap dirt, cheap taxes, state incentives and even cheaper, non-unionized labor than the intellectual prowess of its citizens.

Let the Deporable Nation and the Evangelicals have Judge Roy Moore and state of Alabama. Good riddance. We can’t control the actions of 4.8 million simple-minded people and better yet, despite their beliefs, they can’t and won’t control me. I will continue to resist, and revolt against the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic leaders the Deporables and the Evangelicals support. They think they are doing the “will of God” when in fact they are playing God by their deeds, words and actions. These old white people will get the response from their Creator soon enough. Hopefully their time on earth has prepared them for the heat and humidity.

“Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” –  Rosa Parks