So Moses and David French Walk into a Bar

As Bunyan did many years back, I laid down to sleep and dreamt a dream. But in mine, David French and Moses walked into a bar. The bartender, taking one look at the flowing beard of the lawgiver, said, “No, no you don’t. We don’t serve your kind. We’re a free establishment.” French nodded in agreement, pointing Pharaoh’s Foe to the door, while taking a sip of a pinot noir labeled Korah’s Reb. There was something about censers, fire, and incense. And, alas, I woke.

Blessings from Louisiana

The recent actions in Louisiana are a double blessing. There is the blessing of the law itself, signed by Governor Jeff Landry just last week, and the second blessing, namely the opportunity afforded to us by these proceedings. The law states that all government schools, both K-12 and the universities, must hang the 10 commandments in their classrooms. So, there is reason number one to give thanks, little Johnny will have a bit of the Old Testament added to his studies. The second blessing is that this development affords us an opportunity to examine where we stand. The lines can get muddled every now and then. But here God blows the clouds away and we are afforded the opportunity to see whether we are standing with the normies or with radicals like David French.

As Governor Landry signed the this bill into law, he said something eminently reasonable, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original law giver, which was Moses.” Some might say that Governor Landry was doing the Christian Prince shuffle. And maybe so. But, let’s not scare anybody off at the moment with such a conclusion. Let’s just say that he was saying something that has been said by more Christians than you can number down through the ages. Take Johannes Althusius, “If you would deprive political and symbiotic life of [the Decalogue] and this light to our feet, as it is called, you would destroy its vital spirit. Furthermore, you would take away the bond of human society and, as it were, the rudder and helm of this ship. It would then altogether perish, or be transformed into a stupid, beastly, and inhuman life.”[1]

That’s right, if you send Moses out of your establishment then you will be disestablished. Many insist on running in the other direction. For them, Moses would strip society of her liberties. But, strangely enough, if you were to take a stroll by the Supreme Court building, guess who you would find front and center engraved up there in the marble? That’s right, Moses. Not only Moses, but Moses with the Ten Commandments there on his right hand and on his left. Just below the meek son of Amram, you will find these words engraved in marble: Justice the Guardian of Liberty. 

The Standard of Liberty

Justice indeed is the guardian of liberty. If you throw out law and justice, it will not be long before your freedoms go limping along like some jungle animal with a bad case of gastritis. And now we have come to the nub.

French would agree that justice is the guardian of liberty but on the wrong plane entirely, the secular one. He demonstrated this plainly in his recent opinion piece at the New York Times entitled Thou Shalt Not Post the Ten Commandments in the Classroom. After quoting the bit from Governor Landry about respecting the rule of law via Moses, French retorts, “Ah, you would teach respect for the rule of law by defying the Supreme Court?” French is referring to the 1980 Supreme Court case Stone v. Graham, which struck down a Kentucky law similar to that of Louisiana. 

There is a simple reply to French’s rhetorical: precisely. Glad we are now on the same page. You indeed teach respect for the rule of law by siding with Moses when magistrates oppose him. You side with the man engraved in the marble of the building when the justices inside contradict him. French appears to have no category for such a higher law to which man should appeal. Which is to say, French has no standard of justice above the court to guard the liberties we cherish. He would certainly appeal to man’s standard, the court’s standard, and the legislature’s standard. But we are Christians, after all. The vox populi vox dei option is out. Rutherford settled this matter many years ago: “Truth to Christ cannot be treason to Caesar.”[2]

A Real and Spiritual Power

In his opinion, French goes on to lament the “belief that the Ten Commandments have a form of spiritual power over the hearts and minds of students and that posting the displays can change their lives.” Well, paint me green and call me a pickle! I will have to stand with the son of Jesse—

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes (Psalm 19:7-8).

This is not a matter of the instrumentality of classroom posters. Granted, if you never read the “Got Milk?” poster, that one with Brett Favre sporting the milk mustache, then you will never be induced to go for a gallon of the dairy product. If French attempts to retreat to such a claim, that he was only speaking of the insufficiency of classroom decor, then he will be guilty of the motte-and-bailey. He doubts the spiritual power of the law of God, unhitching from the Old Testament, as the fellow once said. 

[1] Althusius, Politica, 147.

[2] Rutherford, Lex Rex, 17.

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