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| Josiah Smashing Idols |
TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR BIGOTS
BY
DAVID ARTHUR WALTERS
December 16, 2017
I
recently republished three essays I penned in 2013 about Judge Roy Moore’s purported
worship of a stone fetish in Alabama, a huge granite block upon which the
Decalogue is inscribed. My criticism was about his deeds before the whole world,
and not something he was accused of doing secretly. He raised himself above man’s
law in that case, citing God, and that is what we call “bigotry,” after the
practice of pious people of yore given to saying “By God.” My argument was that
it is the ethical rules metaphorically engraved on the heart, remembered and
thought upon that should be sacred, and not a block of stone upon which words
are inscribed. It occurred to me that Moses himself, mindful of how people
worshiped a golden calf, would take a sledgehammer to that stone fetish in
Alabama, for it was not the principle they held dear, but some perishable thing
of this world, just as primitive people worshiped stones and mountains, not
understanding that those things too were bound to pass according to natural
law. As for the biblical commandments now received as numbering ten and in a
certain order, they are readily available to everyone and are frequently
referred to, yet few people can remember them, so I recommended that everyone
keep a copy on their person for daily reading and consideration until they can
cite them by heart and explain why they have the order they do. I was pleased
that a bigot was disposed to object to my essays against idolatry, for he
taught me ten rules that bigots might used when bigotry is criticized. This is
the first draft of Ten Commandments for Bigots. The rules are unnumbered as of
yet, and the reader is invited to improve on the composition:
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF
BIGOTRY
Act as if you are God Almighty.
Above all be a self-righteous bigot because “By
God” proves you right.
Have faith in bigoted
politicians.
Call bigoted politicians
Constitutional scholars as proof that their opinions are correct.
Do not bother to read the critiques
you object to.
Consider all criticism of
bigotry as blasphemous.
Adjudge critics ignorant a priori.
Do not dispute critical
propositions except to parrot hackneyed phrases such as, “claptrap liberalism.”
Idolize a government building
to prove yourself righteous.
Cite an inscription as
supreme authority because engraved in stone.