Vision Forum is pleased to carry a number of books by Gary DeMar, one of the greatest stalwarts in the defense of liberty. Gary wrote the following letter to the editor in response to the World Magazine cover story puff piece glorifying Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor:
Nothing Radical Here
Alabama State Attorney General William Pryor wonders whether Christians have fully thought through what he describes as a “radical states-rights stance.” There’s nothing radical about it. Pryor claims that if “the nonestablishment clause cannot be enforced on the states, then neither can other clauses in the First Amendment, including guarantees of free religious exercise or free speech.” Exactly! If the states wanted these protections for themselves, they would have to write them into their own constitutions, which they did. In Alabama’s 1819 constitution, we find the following: “Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty” (I:8) Sections 3-7 deal with state religious freedoms. These examples, which could be multiplied state by state, show that the states understood that the Bill of Rights was their constitutional protection from a Federal government that might impose its will on them. Mr. Pryor does not seem to be aware of his own state’s constitutional history. Without violating his oath, in complete compliance with constitutional theory, and maintaining the rule of law, he could have rejected the jurisdictional usurpation of the federal courts.
Gary DeMar
President of American Vision and author of
America’s Christian History and America’s Christian Heritage