Alabama Supreme Court's Embryo Ruling Embodies America's Legal Heritage
Because of the case's holding and Parker's colorful concurrence, many on the Left have denounced LePage as an imperious act of "theocracy" or "Christian nationalism."
Nothing could be further from the truth.
America was quite literally founded on the notion that "all men are created equal" and that "they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." Thomas Jefferson, the man who penned those words but redacted his Bible to remove those parts he did not himself believe, was about the furthest thing imaginable from an Orthodox Christian. Yet even Jefferson held that our rights flow from our Creator -- the very God, we know from Genesis, who made man in His image. The political theory of the American Founding is that man is made in God's image and that we accordingly possess certain rights that no other man or ruler can deny.
This is not "theocracy." It is basic American history -- basic historical literacy.
No one was clearer about the role of God in the American public square than George Washington, the greatest of all the Founders, whose birthday we celebrated this week. Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation began by explaining that "it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor." Washington then declared that a Thursday in late November should be "devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be."
The Alabama Supreme Court's ruling in LePage was a straightforward case of statutory interpretation. But it also affirmed and upheld this broader, venerable tradition.
The reality is those decrying the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling in LePage don't merely hate unborn human life. They hate America itself.
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