Local editorial writer Don Michael has written a piece on the situation in Alabama far better that anything I could add. The following words from the U.S. Constitution seem particularly relevant:
“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” (Article VI; Clause 3).
Of course the first amendment also applies:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The trick has always been deciding what sorts of government actions counts as establishing religion. The problem, of course, is that Chief Justice Roy Moore is both a representative of the goverment and a private citizen. In his role as government representative, he has no right imposing his religious ideas on other people. In his role as a private citizen, he has every right to champion his views. It’s tricky living in a pluralistic society, full of contradictory agendas. The Alabama debacle has been but one more pitched battle in a series likely to continue.