'America the Beautiful,' a Poem by Judge Roy Moore
Circulating via forwarded email: 'America the Beautiful,' a caustic poem about the nation's moral decline attributed to Judge Roy Moore of Alabama.
Description: Email flier
Circulating since: 1997
Status: Authentic (more or less)
Email example contributed by Janice E., Nov. 29, 2003:
|
The following is a poem written by Judge Roy Moore from Alabama. Judge Moore was recently sued by the ACLU for displaying the Ten Commandments his courtroom. AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL America the Beautiful, or so you used to be. Babies piled in dumpsters, Abortion on demand, Our children wander aimlessly poisoned by cocaine, From sea to shining sea, our Nation turns away So many worldly preachers tell lies about our Rock, We've kept God in our temples, how callous we have grown. We've voted in a government that's rotting at the core, Too soft to place a killer in a well deserved tomb, You think that God's not angry, that our land's a moral slum? How are we to face our God, from Whom we cannot hide? If we who are His children, will humbly turn and pray; Then God will hear from Heaven and forgive us of our sins, But, America the Beautiful, if you don't then you will see, Judge Roy Moore |
Analysis: Circulating online since 1997 (at which time its author was listed as "Anonymous"), the above poem — this particular version of it, anyway — has more recently been attributed to Alabama's notorious Judge Roy Moore. Since its authorship has been vetted by presumably reliable sources, it's listed here as authentic (see authorship update below).
Judge Moore vaulted to national prominence several years ago when, as Alabama's Chief Justice, he installed a 5,000-pound monument emblazoned with the Ten Commandments in the state's Supreme Court building. His defiance of a federal court order to remove it on grounds that it violated the Constitutional principle of separation of church and state led to Moore's suspension in 2003.
He is also a self-styled poet. In his 2005 book, So Help Me God: The Ten Commandments, Judicial Tyranny, and the Battle for Religious Freedom, Moore evinces a lifelong love of poetry and mentions several of his own efforts, including "Our American Birthright," an inspirational ditty quite similar in style and theme to "America the Beautiful."
Among the sources citing Roy Moore as the author of the poem are The American Spectator, WorldNetDaily.com, and the Associated Press.
Update: Associate says the poem was 'PARTLY' written by Judge Roy Moore - In a February 6, 2006 email from the headquarters of Roy Moore's Foundation for Moral Law in Montgomery, Alabama, the organization's secretary Heather Moore wrote: "Part of the poem was anonymous and part was written by the Chief Justice. There are several different versions being circulated [and] this is but one."
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Sources and further reading:
Make Way for Moore
The American Spectator, 21 November 2003Judge Roy Moore: 'Captain America'
WorldNetDaily.com, 21 August 2003Judge's Family Say He Hasn't Changed
Associated Press, 22 August 2003Supporters See Chief Justice Moore as Moral Voice in Decaying Society
Atlanta Journal Constitution, 24 August 2003Moore Asking Voters to Ban Gay Marriages
Montgomery Advertiser, 30 January 2006
Last updated: 06/10/07
