PUTTING GOD BACK IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE.

• Author: MOORE, ROY S.

"The doctrine of separation between church and state has been abused, twisted, and taken out of context in recent court decisions in order to prevent the public worship and acknowledgement of God."

IN HIS FIRST OFFICIAL ACT, Pres. George Washington did something that would be unthinkable today: He prayed in public! Specifically, during his inaugural address, he made "fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes.... No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency."

If that were not enough, Washington added: "We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained."

More than 200 years later, few government officials are bold enough to make earnest professions of faith. It seems that politicians can do just about anything in public but pray, unless it is obligatory (say, during an annual prayer breakfast at the White House). They can survive scandal and immoral conduct, but they suffer ostracism and worse once they are labeled members of the "Religious Right."

Even the American justice system, which is firmly rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition, has developed a bias against public worship and the public acknowledgment of God that ought to give the most militant atheist cause for concern. If judges can deny Christians and Jews the right to express their beliefs in the public square, they can surely deny secular humanists (devout believers of a different sort) the same right.

* In California, creches and crosses have been removed from downtown Christmas and Easter displays.

* In Kansas, city hall monuments featuring religious symbols have been torn down.

* In Rhode Island, high school graduation invocations and benedictions have been banned.

* In Alabama, students have been prohibited by Federal court order from praying, distributing religious materials, and even discussing anything of a devotional or inspirational nature with their classmates and teachers.

* In Ohio, an appellate court has overturned the sentence of a man convicted of raping an eight-year-old child 10 times. Why? Because the judge who pronounced the sentence quoted from the 18th chapter of Matthew: "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."

In the courtroom in which I preside, the public display of the Ten Commandments and voluntary clergy-led prayer prior to jury organizational sessions have sparked not only a national controversy, but an epic legal battle. In 1995, I was sued in Federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Alabama Freethought Association. Just prior to that case being dismissed for lack of standing (the ACLU and Alabama Freethought Association failed to show that they had been or were about to be injured), a separate lawsuit was filed in Alabama state court requesting a ruling on whether the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the display of the Ten Commandments and voluntary prayer in the courtroom. A state circuit court judge presiding in Montgomery County, Ala., held that the practices in Etowah County were unconstitutional under the First Amendment's "Establishment Clause," which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.... "It would appear that the circuit court judge and others were not impressed when the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate passed a resolution stating that: "the Ten Commandments are a declaration of fundamental principles that are the cornerstones of a fair and just society; and the public display, including display in government offices and courthouses, of the Ten Commandments should be permitted."

The state circuit...