Susan Pace Hamill\u2019s colleagues on the law faculty at the University of Alabama were puzzled when she decided to spend her hard-earned sabbatical studying the Bible.<\/p>\n\n
Why study Greek at Samford University\u2019s evangelical Beeson Divinity School? What was a tax-law specialist who had worked in New York City and Washington, D.C., supposed to do with a Masters in Theological Studies degree?<\/p>\n\n
Hamill wasn\u2019t exactly sure herself, but she certainly wasn\u2019t trying to start a political crusade.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIf you divide the world into people who are on the side of money and people who are not, then I\u2019m on the side of money,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a corporate lawyer. It\u2019s what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Then she read an article about Alabama\u2019s income, property and sales tax laws that shook her faith as well as her legal convictions. One statistic cut deep: A family of four had to pay taxes if it earned $4,600 a year, a figure that was light years below the $17,601 poverty line.<\/p>\n\n
Before long before she was writing statements such as this: \u201cAlabamians are, or at least claim to be, a Christian people. \u2026 However, in one glaring case Alabamians have strayed far from the direction that God\u2019s moral compass provides. When one examines the suffering and hardship Alabama\u2019s tax structure inflicts on the poorest and neediest among us, one cannot fail to see the enormous gap that exists between what God\u2019s moral values demand and what we have allowed our state to become.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The typical essay quoted 20-plus Bible verses per page, with special attention given to prodding ministers and wealthy Christians. Hamill added hard statistics and legal scholarship, seeking \u201c10 witnesses and DNA\u201d to build an ironclad case. The bottom line?<\/p>\n\n
\u201cAlabama\u2019s tax structure,\u201d she wrote, is the \u201csort of system condemned by the Old Testament Prophets and by Jesus as inconsistent with God\u2019s Word.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Hamill called her Beeson thesis \u201cAn Argument for Tax Relief Based on Judeo-Christian Ethics\u201d and, after a burst of local news coverage, lots of people started reading it \u2014 including Republican Gov. Bob Riley. This rock-ribbed Southern Baptist conservative proceeded to propose the biggest tax increase in state history, telling Alabamians that \u201cwe\u2019re supposed to love God, love each other and help take care of the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The $1.2 billion tax package lost on Sept. 9 by a crushing 68 to 32 percent margin. Nevertheless, Hamill believes the cause might rise again. It would certainly help if certain media and political elites took off their ideological blinders.<\/p>\n\n
She isn\u2019t the only person who thinks that. Gregg Easterbrook of the New Republic was appalled by the lack of support Riley\u2019s crusade received from the proud progressives in the national media. This is especially true in comparison with the oceans of digital ink spilled over a 2.5-ton granite monument in the Alabama Supreme Court rotunda.<\/p>\n\n
Major newspapers and networks, he noted, swarmed over the Ten Commandments story, but ignored the tax-reform effort. It\u2019s fair to ask, \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhy does the crackpot judge get 24-7 coverage,\u201d he asked, \u201cwhen the noble governor gets almost none? Because the snarling judge and his intolerant followers show Christianity in a bad light; by granting them attention, the media make Christianity look bad. Gov. Riley\u2019s crusade to help the poor shows Christianity at its luminous best. Therefore the media ignore Riley.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Hamill isn\u2019t that harsh. But she agrees that a symbolic chunk of granite received more than its share of coverage, especially in contrast to the substance of the tax-reform plan, which would have affected paychecks, schools, businesses and grocery bags.<\/p>\n\n
The ultimate question, she concluded, is whether citizens honor the content of the Ten Commandments and the civic principles that flow out of them. That\u2019s a big story, too.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe plan failed,\u201d she said. \u201cDoes that mean the moral message failed? I hope not. I hope and pray that the movement down here is just getting started. Sometimes grassroots movements take time. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Susan Pace Hamill\u2019s colleagues on the law faculty at the University of Alabama were puzzled when she decided to spend her hard-earned sabbatical studying the Bible. Why study Greek at Samford University\u2019s evangelical Beeson Divinity School? What was a tax-law specialist who had worked in New York City and Washington, D.C., supposed to do with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[114,1534,598,1544,784],"class_list":["post-1247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bible-belt","tag-evangelicals","tag-news-media","tag-politics","tag-seminaries"],"yoast_head":"\n