THE GREAT ALABAMA FETISH
BY
DAVID ARTHUR WALTERS
August 31, 2003
The granite shrine of the Decalogue inserted by Judge Roy Moore into the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building is obviously a fetish in the sense that it is for many people an artificial object evoking unquestioned veneration. Portuguese explorers applied the word fetico ("that which is made") to magical objects such as carved figurines used by Africans, especially sorcerors and witches, in their magico-religious cults. The festishes were supposedly bewitched or charmed; that is, presumed to house spirits or spiritual forces, or be endowed with anima (soul) or mana, spiritual energy. Social scientists have proposed that fetishism is one of the most primitive forms of religious worship.
As for the objects in themselves, they often were of little material or aesthetic value. It may seem to be quite a stretch to apply the term 'fetich' or 'fetish' to the Alabama shrine. One might argue that it is encoded with statements in linquistic terms - in this instance English instead of Hebrew symbols. However, the 'primitive' fetish has its symbolic language too; fetishes are encoded according rules of law whereby the spirit may be caused to behave in a certain way, say, to punish someone. But what is most salient about fetishes is the reverence for the thing and not for the message encoded in it, as if the object were possessed by a spirit - little distinction is made between the object and the spirit it allegedly houses.
At a presumably higher stage of religion, blatant fetishism was held to be in bad taste and disrespectful because of the magical aspects which attempted to manipulate the god or gods instead of humbly appeasing them. Byzantine iconoclasts attacked the apparent Catholic iconophilia; the Church insisted that the icons were not idols, that they were texts for the illiterate flock; that is, the icons were merely teaching tools which directed attention away from vulgar things to divine entities and concepts. However that may be, even atheists can thank religion for much of our fine arts - even the iconoclasts produced fine works of art while avoiding icons.
The Alabama festish is quite pleasing to the eye, at least to mine - I think it is beautiful. I imagine that the cost of design, production and materials - the granite - was substantial, and that its aesthetic value will appreciate over time. And it will now have an added, historic value because of the controversy surrouding it at present. Of course its spiritual or symbolic value is priceless; since people tend to fight over principle as well as property, we hope there is no bloodshed over the order to remove it from the rotunda.
As the observer faces the fetish, she can see a broad moving curtain behind it - a waterfall. She cannot touch or kiss the revered object because it is tabu and is accordingly cordoned off. This is not your usual vulgar shrine but seems designed for the exalted appreciation of the elite, the judicial priesthood, and for devout lay persons with a sense of hygiene and good taste.
The shrine is obscenely placed from the perspective of the political theologians of the secular religion, although the church politics of Alabama's Christian Jews deems its current placement perfectly scenic, standing as it does in the public area of the judicial temple. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson rules that it may stay in the building but must be in a more private place. Therefore I suggest that it be moved to a private judicial chamber and put behind a thick curtain. Perhaps giant angel's wings could be placed above the fetish for effect. Each judge could then in turn voluntarily visit the shrine and meditate on the words chiseled thereon. However, before passing behind the curtain, a non-conducting rope should be tied to the judge's ankle in case he is struck by lightning, then his associate outside the curtain can safely pull him to safety.
As for the Ten Commandments, I would print millions of wallet and purse-sized versions in all languages and hand them out to people. As it is, most people cannot remember any ten things in their right order except the first ten letters and numbers. I know many people who think 'Thou shalt do no murder" is the first commandment, not realizing that it is well down on the list! Perhaps that is why so many murders have been committed in the name of "the Lord" since that day his finger wrote out the law, beginning with three-thousand relatives and friends mercifully slain for idolatry in order to baptise the slayers in blood and thereby make them holy.
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