?:reviewBody
|
-
As Roy Moore continued to deny allegations that he pursued a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old when he was 32, the web site Think Progress uncovered another interesting detail about the former Alabama judge's past: According to the web site, Moore co-authored the 2011 textbook Law and Government: An Introductory Study Course which contained a section arguing that women should not hold political office: Although Think Progress never said that Moore had personally penned the portion of the study guide arguing that women should not hold political office, the use of the term co-author left some readers confused. This confusion was exacerbated as social media users omitted the co entirely and labeled Moore the study guide's sole author: The Think Progress article, however, never said that Moore personally penned this section. Rather, they reported that the lecture entitled What the Bible Says About Female Magistrates (included in the book's chapter Women's Roles in Politics) was delivered by William O. Einwechter: Law and Government: An Introductory Study Course was not a typical textbook. It consists of a collection of lectures (28 hours of audio and video) and a companion study guide. The study course was created by Vision Forum, an evangelical Christian organization that advocated biblical patriarchy and was shuttered in 2013 after its President Doug Phillips was accused of sexual abuse. Law and Government was largely based on a series of lectures from a 2008 conference called Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy that was especially designed for young men. It's unclear if this study course was ever used at a university, or if the material was merely marketed to the men who attended to Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy conference. Our search for this material turned up several listings on eBay, Amazon, and other book sellers, but no universities. It's also important to note that the Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy wasn't an actual school. It was an annual four-day crash course that was hosted by Vision Forum in which Moore and other like-minded figures delivered lectures to young men concerning a biblical approach to law and public policy. Vision Forum describes it this way: Moore was a longstanding faculty member of Vision Forum's Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy. The introduction for The Law Of The Land: Chief Justice Moore's Message To America, another DVD produced by Vision Forum's and featuring a lecture by Moore, stated that the former judge had served as faculty for the conference since 1999. A November 2017 Slate article further explored Moore's connections with Vision Forum and the Witherspoon School: Although Moore's defenders may quibble with labeling him a co-author of this guide (while he is listed as an author on various listings for the material, he is labeled a featured speaker in the study course's packaging), the Alabama Senate candidate contributed to this study course and was a longtime faculty member of the school that produced these lectures: Although a spokesperson for Moore's campaign did not specifically address the Think Progress report, they did release a statement saying that despite the judge's involvement with Vision Forums, the Witherspoon School, and this study guide, the judge never suggested or believed that women were unqualified for public office:
(en)
|