It’s been a wacky few weeks on the American cultural front. While the conflict raged in Alabama over Chief Justice Roy Moore’s 5,280 pound granite monument of the Ten Commandments, across the country members of the Earth Liberation Front (ELFs) vandalized Hummers at four car dealerships in the Los Angeles area.

During the November 2000 election, candidate Moore campaigned as the Ten Commandments Judge, promising the good citizens of Alabama he would make room for the Decalogue if they elected him Chief Justice, which they promptly did. Under the cover of darkness, and without telling the other eight Supreme Court justices, Chief Justice Moore personally oversaw the monument’s installation center stage in the Judicial Building’s rotunda.

A federal judge ruled last year that the monument’s prominent placement violated the constitutional ban on government promotion of religion and ordered it removed. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Judge Moore’s appeal.

Judge Moore refused to comply with the court order. His eight fellow associate justices voted to remove the monument and to suspend him. That decision, along with Moore’s angry-man rhetoric, brought protesters from other states to stand vigil. In spite of the drama, on Wednesday morning a moving crew rolled the sacred symbol to a ‘private area’ of the building.

Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, the beleaguered Bush candidate for a Federal Appeals Court judgeship, said that he continues to believe “that the Ten Commandments are the cornerstone of our legal heritage and can be displayed constitutionally (read non-prominently) as they are in the building of the Supreme Court of the United States. (But) the rule of law means that when courts resolve disputes, after all appeals and arguments are heard, we all must obey the orders of those courts even when we disagree with them.”

Tell that to the ELFs. Last week, they broke into Clippinger Chevrolet Dealership in West Covina and did $1 million damage to dozens of Hummer vehicles there and at dealerships in three neighboring cities. For good measure they set fire to the dealership itself, risking the lives of firemen fighting the blaze. This peripatetic band of terrorists have taken credit for burning down a ski lodge in Vail, Colorado, and setting fire to a condo complex under construction in San Diego to the tune of $50 million in damage. Their behavior is motivated by their belief that capitalism is the greatest threat to the natural environment, and to the survival of innocent animal life. ELFs believe they are defending what is sacred.

As with Judge Moore, the ELFs consider the American legal system a dangerous impediment to expressing their core beliefs. Their promotional material and websites are every bit as religious in tone as those that advocate keeping the Ten Commandments monument in the center of Alabama’s courthouse rotunda.

The era of American citizens sharing common beliefs has been shattered.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Emile Durkheim warned that this might happen. Durkheim, the French social theorist and father of modern sociology, concluded that members of a society need common sets of religious symbols and shared behaviors, including common assumptions about the world around them, in order to maintain moral unity. Without this common ground, Durkheim speculated that society would disintegrate into antagonistic, self-seeking individuals. Ironically, it is the pursuit of such common ground that provides both the shared beliefs Durkheim deems necessary for societal cohesion, and the disagreements over what those shared beliefs should be. America is now a pluralistic society representing many conflicting core beliefs and worldviews.

At a practical level, how can we get along with fellow citizens when we disagree with them on very important issues? Some suggest that we should sandblast all religious symbols from our public square so that no one is offended. If we eliminate the expression of core beliefs from public discourse maybe we can get along better. But such a world lacks richness. Most of us like to know what each other really thinks. There must be a way to express our beliefs (religious and otherwise) while still functioning as responsible citizens. Durkheim came to believe that society had to find a solution to this challenge of conflicting core beliefs among its citizenry.

The American solution to this problem is found in the United States constitution. It protects citizens at the federal, state, and local levels from the government declaring an official religion. Just as important, and often forgotten, we are free to express our religious beliefs. God’s name is found on our currency, our governmental buildings, even our national pledge. Case by case, judges decide whether or not a religion is promoted by the government. We may disagree with their decisions, but once they decide, and appeals are heard, we as American citizens should adhere to their rulings. Dissatisfaction should be expressed through the legislative process, not by defying the court. It is the rule of law that protects all of us from degenerating into anarchy.

This is true whether you are one of the 83% of American adults who consider themselves to be Christian, or one of the extremist members of the Earth Liberation Front who will risk years in jail to promote their beliefs on the evening news.

Although we may be sympathetic to Judge Moore and share his appreciation for our Judeo-Christian heritage, he should not have thumbed his nose at the law he has sworn to protect. Neither should ELFs vandalize and destroy Hummer vehicles and dealerships to hypocritically promote clean air and respect for life.

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