As Jonathan Adler writes here at THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Judge Roy Moore is “constitutionally illiterate” on some basic issues. He also happens to be biblically illiterate in a crucial particular.
Moore is a social conservative who speaks often about his commitment to biblical values. A favorite Bible verse for Moore is II Chronicles 7:14, which says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will heal their land.”
When Moore tells an audience that God will do that, he understands “my people” to be the American people, and “their land” to be the American land. And, for Moore, we Americans must repent of our wicked ways if our land is to be healed. Moore would outlaw homosexuality and abortion.
II Chronicles 7:14, however, isn’t about American politics. It’s not about us. As Roy Moore’s fellow Southern Baptist and theologian Russell Moore points out, “my people” are the people of God. They were coming home from exile, having been dominated and enslaved by a foreign power—and in need of being reminded “of who they were, who God was and what he had promised to do.”
Moore is hardly the only politician who has Americanized II Chronicles 7:14. He just happens to be the most well-known one at the present moment. Constitutionally and biblically illiterate, he still may be elected senator of the state of Alabama by the people of Alabama.
