Chris Cuomo, CNN host, to Roy Moore: ‘Our rights do not come from God’

CNN host Chris Cuomo engaged in a somewhat fiery debate with Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore over gay marriage, ultimately telling the top legal mind that God has little to do with making laws for humans and that rights come from a “compromise” of the collective.

The discussion centered on Mr. Moore’s advisement to probate judges in Alabama to defy a federal court order and deny marriage licenses to gays. Critics have compared Mr. Moore’s move to Gov. George Wallace’s 1960s-era blocking of desegregation.

“I would suggest that your refusal [to support federal order] goes to what you believe marriage is about and not just to the law,” Mr. Cuomo said, Raw Story reported. “This is just like the Ten Commandments situation. You were told by the federal courts, remove the Ten Commandments from the public square. You didn’t want to and you wound up losing your job because of it.”

Mr. Moore refuted that characterization, however.

“It’s not about my feelings. It’s about the law,” Mr. Moore said, the news site reported. “And my law, Alabama law, rates that I’m chief administrative officer of the judicial system, and I must act when the jurisdiction of the probate courts is interfered with by one lone judge who has no power or authority to tell them how to interpret the federal Constitution.”

Mr. Cuomo’s reply was brief: “It’s about discrimination,” he said.

And Mr. Moore:’ It’s about sexual preference overcoming an institution which has existed in our state, in our United States for centuries,” he said, Raw Story reported.

Mr. Cuomo then said that “equal protection” is more certainly an issue for the Supreme Court to settle and that same-sex marriage falls into that category.

“Our rights do not come from the Constitution, they come from God,” Mr. Moore said, Raw Story reported.

And Mr. Cuomo’s reply?

“Our laws do not come from God and you know that,” he said. “They come from man. … Our rights do not come from God. That’s your faith, that’s my faith. But that’s not our country. Our laws come from the collective agreement and compromise.”