Newly reelected Judge Roy Moore is back in his old seat as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, where he can declare that lesbian women should be put to death to his heart’s delight. He went on a wingnut radio show recently and declared that evolution is to blame for the alleged destruction of the Constitution:
Barbara Moore: Judge Moore I want to ask you, as you read the United States Constitution you can see that biblical concepts and precepts are within that Constitution, everything from separation of powers because of the sinful nature of man, and I would think that any Bible believing Christian would feel that when they look at our United States Constitution, wouldn’t you say?
Roy Moore: I think they don’t and I think there’s a reason they don’t and I think the reason like you see it maybe because you’ve studied a little bit but I think it’s not evident to those who have lost the knowledge of God. What I mean to say by that is you know we started by teaching history at the beginning of the program and it’s like going to football games and seeing who wins and who loses and going to football games and forgetting the rules. If you know the rules it makes the game more interesting because you know there is some way they get to the end of the game and win or lose and you got to go by the rules. We’re not going by the rules because we don’t think the rules matter anymore.
Evolution has so distorted our way of thinking. It’s not just about where we came from. Of course, we know we were created but they say we evolved from whatever, something out of the ocean, you’ve got to understand that evolution affects your mental processes. When you think you have evolved then you think you’re better than those who have gone before you. If you’re better than those who have gone before you then you won’t make the same mistakes, you won’t think the same way, you know better, you’re smarter. The point is, human nature doesn’t change and human nature is what the Constitution sought to restrain.
Sometimes I think of right wing rhetoric as a big game of Mad Libs, with buzzwords and catchphrases just randomly thrown together. You take a list of bad things (evolution, gun control, abortion, the gays) from category one and then claim that they lead to the bad things from category two (downfall of western civilization, UN takeover of American sovereignty, destruction of Christianity, etc). It’s all quite simple and the rubes will cry and cheer and think you’ve said something profound. This is, of course, the secret to Sarah Palin’s entire communications strategy.
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hunter
December 26, 2012 at 10:45 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“When you think you have evolved then you think you’re better than those who have gone before you.”
Not if you understand evolution. Of course, if you think God made you to be special. . . .
iangould
December 26, 2012 at 10:58 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
No,moorre is right.
Evolution leads you to blasphemous thoughts like hwo slavery is bad and how maybe women should be allowed to vote.
Artor
December 26, 2012 at 11:09 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I wonder if Judge Moore uses ranch dressing on his word salad? Italian would be too foreign for his tastes, I’m sure. Is the Barbara Moore interviewing him his wife? What a professional way to conduct interviews!
Reginald Selkirk
December 26, 2012 at 11:17 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And so it was. And so Judge Moore was fired from his previous term as Chief Justice of the state of Alabama.
richardelguru
December 26, 2012 at 11:31 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Is the Barbara Moore interviewing him his wife?”
Wife?
Sister?
Both??
Who knows with these Moore-ons.
sabai456
December 26, 2012 at 12:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I thought the problem with evilution is that it makes you think you’re no better than an animal and that’s why people blow away 20 kids. Which is it “judge”?
criticaldragon1177
December 26, 2012 at 1:10 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Ed Brayton,
Acceptance of reality destroy Judge Roy Moore’s world view. Again, How exactly is Evolution incomparable with the US constitution, when what the Constitution says is in no way dependent upon Evolution being true or false? Moore obviously doesn’t understand Evolution or human nature or the constitution very well. Besides people like him who refuse to accept that the Constitution mandates neutrality on purely religious grounds are doing a hell of a job defending what’s actually in the constitution aren’t they?
footface
December 26, 2012 at 1:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I thought evolution was bad because it taught us that we were “no better than” animals.
Now it’s bad because it teaches us that we’re better than what came before.
Well, as long as it’s bad.
Sastra
December 26, 2012 at 1:39 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
No, not evolution. As PZ Myers once said, “Science changes the way you think.” As did humanism and the Enlightenment — we no longer believe we have to look at everything wearing our God Glasses, viewing the world through the lens of the Bible being True and coloring and distorting all we see. Instead, we strive to be as objective as we can … and there goes faith.
Moore’s own Jesus Goggles apparently causes him to see the theory of evolution as some sort of teleological hierarchy, with human beings On Top and Progress for its own sake as some sort of moral mandate structured into life and thus history. It’s like a bastardized hybrid of what evolution is bred into a fear of Satan’s agenda. I guess we can’t recognize it properly because we’re part of the devil. That way, our views don’t count.
d.c.wilson
December 26, 2012 at 1:59 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I can’t help thinking: what is wrong with thinking we’re better than people who thought slavery was a great idea or that killing people because you disagree on how to interpret some ancient text was pleasing to the man in the sky?
raven
December 26, 2012 at 2:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It sure does.
We no longer live in the demon haunted darkness.
Except for the fundies. They still live in a demon haunted darkness of their own creation.
John Hinkle
December 26, 2012 at 2:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I got the point. His point is he’s well practiced at stringing together non sequiturs.
tubi
December 26, 2012 at 3:22 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
…to…?? Or is it just the one thing?
And, WTF does separation of powers have to do with the sinful nature of man?
I know, I know, Mad Libs…word salad…non sequitor…etc. But still, I like to try to understand what they’re getting at.
Akira MacKenzie
December 26, 2012 at 4:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
sabai456:
Don’t forget that Moore is from the same religion that generally claims how special human beings are–we were made in God’s image, we were given dominion over the Earth, etc.–in one breath, but how “depraved,” “corrupt,” “fallen,” and deserving of eternal torture we are.
Such Doublethink should not come as a surprise.
Dr X
December 26, 2012 at 5:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
So Piers Morgan’s “hostile attack on the constitution” is superfluous?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkantrowitz/2012/12/24/piers-morgan-lashes-out-on-twitter-against-petition-asking-white-house-to-depo-him
Dr X
December 26, 2012 at 5:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I wonder how many signatories to the Alabama secession petition are also appalled by this constitutional attack waged by evolution?
democommie
December 26, 2012 at 6:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If they can remove this asshole from the Alabama Supreme KKKlavern again, I’d suggest disbarring him at the same time.
chrisdevries
December 26, 2012 at 11:45 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
There should be a rule that once-impeached judges and legislators cannot run for office again. Because, whaddaya know, Moore is once again straddling a thin line between government imposition of religious values and beliefs onto non-believers and his personal right to free speech. Some of his insanity, like this interview, is perfectly legal although the good citizens of Alabama should have all sorts of red flags going up about how Moore will be influenced by his evangelical Christianity in his decisions, something that is, if those influences are explicitly stated, illegal. But not only is he at risk of crossing this line in the future, he has crossed it many times in the past, even recently (e.g.stating that lesbian women should be executed by the state).
I don’t understand why people like Moore swear to uphold the laws of the USA, including the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and then deliberately violate those laws (often while claiming to be upholding them). Do they not know what the laws actually state? Or do they think that the laws should apply to everyone except them, b/c of course, Christians should have extra rights in a “Christian nation.” Ignorance or arrogance? The same question can be asked of the people who repeatedly elect these religious ideologues. I wonder what percentage of the people who voted for Moore did so because he is notorious for using Christian doctrine to adjudicate cases (in defiance of his judicial obligations), and what percentage voted for him that wouldn’t have done so had they been aware of his attempts to defy the laws of the nation. The same goes for unelected judiciary, including members of the Supreme Court, such as Scalia, who are perfectly willing to go against the Constitution if it conflicts with their opinions. I see “conservative” judges rule in a manner consistent with their preexisting opinions all the time; do liberal judges do the same thing with the same frequency? An independent judiciary is key to the balance of power in the USA, but it seems to me that there are dozens of judges explicitly advocating for Republican positions in their decisions, even when those positions blatantly violate the Constitution.
Michael Parido
December 29, 2012 at 1:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Dr X,
Mr. Morgan did not and never has attacked the constitution. You are beating a dead horse with that. He has stated his opinion, an opinion shared by many of us. He is allowed to do that. This is the U.S.A. after all. You are familiar with a little nugget called “Free Speech”?
As for the “Judge” well, sometimes Moore is less.
Michael Heath
December 29, 2012 at 6:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Michael Parido writes to Dr. X; I presume due to the latter’s post @ 15:
While Dr. X’s link is broke, I’m pretty confident Dr. X was employing some facetious snark in this post.
This week in science: good riddance 2012 | Hotspyer – Breaking News from around the web
December 29, 2012 at 9:16 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
[...] If Judge Roy Moore (R-Grifter) didn’t exist it might be necessary to invent him for sheer fun. His latest howler? Biological evolution is shredding the US Constitution! [...]
This week in science: good riddance 2012 - Online Political Blog
December 29, 2012 at 6:05 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
[...] If Judge Roy Moore (R-Grifter) didn’t exist it might be necessary to invent him for sheer fun. His latest howler? Biological evolution is shredding the US Constitution! [...]