Moore idiocy
Christianist former judge Roy Moore penned a column for WingNutDaily (h/t: Andrew Sullivan) where he goes off the rails yet again, this time in an anti-Muslim tirade directed at incoming Senator Keith Ellison:
Our Constitution states, "Each House [of Congress] shall be the judge ... of the qualifications of its own members." Enough evidence exists for Congress to question Ellison's qualifications to be a member of Congress as well as his commitment to the Constitution in view of his apparent determination to embrace the Quran and an Islamic philosophy directly contrary to the principles of the Constitution. But common sense alone dictates that in the midst of a war with Islamic terrorists we should not place someone in a position of great power who shares their doctrine. In 1943, we would never have allowed a member of Congress to take their oath on "Mein Kampf," or someone in the 1950s to swear allegiance to the "Communist Manifesto." Congress has the authority and should act to prohibit Ellison from taking the congressional oath today!
Moore conveniently ignores this passage from Article VI of the Constitution:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. [emphasis added]
Absent such a religious test, elected officials cannot be held to a “qualification” that is also a religious test. Moore surely knows this, yet cannot rally the faithful if he deigns to recognize the truth: our pluralistic nation cannot be controlled by Christianists.
He (correctly) observes that “Islamic law is simply incompatible with our law,” but is blind to the parallel conclusion that Judeo-Christian law is likewise incompatible. Given a choice between Deuteronomy or the Declaration, the Ten Commandments or the Bill of Rights, the decision is obvious.