This week’s episode of The Voice of Alabama Politics examined several of the issues currently shaping Alabama politics, with host Bill Britt joined by Susan Britt and APR columnist Josh Moon for a discussion on legislation, campaign tactics and civic engagement.
The panel opened with debate over legislation that would create new felony penalties for intentionally disrupting religious worship. Britt said he could understand the principle behind protecting houses of worship but questioned why lawmakers were devoting time to legislation aimed at a problem that does not appear to be widespread in Alabama.
“What is difficult for me, and I think what is difficult for the opposition to the bill, is this is taking time to pass a bill that doesn’t affect the state,” Britt said, noting the proposal appeared to be a response to incidents outside Alabama.
Susan Britt suggested the political timing explains the bill’s momentum.
“Election year and it gets attention,” she said. “They pass bills for hypothetical situations that might happen sometime in the future instead of working on what is actually wrong with the state.”
Moon argued that existing laws already address the type of behavior the legislation targets and questioned why lawmakers appear more concerned about disruptions than about violence that has historically occurred inside churches.
“If we’re worried about really protecting churches and the people inside of them,” Moon said, “I would have thought we would have passed something when people were being murdered inside churches, not when somebody asks inconvenient questions.”
The conversation then turned to legislation that would require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school history classrooms. Britt said the issue was less about the religious text itself and more about the historical claims some lawmakers are using to justify the bill.
“He was saying our Constitution and our laws stem from the Bible,” Britt said. “No, they don’t. They stem from the Enlightenment period.”
Moon agreed, pointing out that the nation’s founders debated religious liberty extensively and deliberately created a system in which government could not impose religion on citizens.
“You can look up those debates,” Moon said. “They went through great discussions about why they chose religious freedom and why no one should be forced to practice a religion.”
Britt added that the founders worked intentionally to keep religion and government separate, warning that increasing efforts to blend the two in modern politics threaten the constitutional framework they established.
In the second segment, the show focused on new reporting surrounding the residency challenge filed against former Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl in the lieutenant governor’s race. Britt said a review of Secretary of State Wes Allen’s campaign finance records shows Allen’s campaign likely paid for the legal work behind the challenge filed by former state Rep. Gil Isbell.
The challenge questioned Wahl’s residency qualifications, but Britt said the financial connection raised political questions.
Isbell initially described the challenge as a good-faith effort that was not connected to a rival campaign, but later acknowledged that Allen’s campaign had financed the legal work behind the filing.
While Britt said the arrangement does not appear to violate campaign finance law, he suggested the strategy could create unnecessary political risk.
“This is the kind of stuff that can come back and bite you in the butt that you just shouldn’t set yourself up to have happen,” Britt said.
Moon said the situation was unusual, particularly because the campaign payment was visible in publicly filed finance reports.
“It’s almost like they wanted people to know they did this,” Moon said.
The panel also discussed legislation that would rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” under Alabama law. Britt mocked the proposal as political theater and suggested that if lawmakers were determined to rename the body of water, they might as well call it the “Gulf of Alabama.”
Moon described the proposal as another example of performative politics aimed at showing loyalty to President Donald Trump.
The episode concluded with Britt discussing the upcoming “No Kings III” rally scheduled for March 28 at Railroad Park in Birmingham, where he has been invited to speak. Britt said he accepted the invitation not as a partisan gesture but because the rally reflects a core American principle: the right of citizens to protest their government.
“In 1776, the American people said no to King George,” Britt said. “They declared that the divine right of kings does not exist and that the people would govern themselves.”
Moon said public demonstrations can play an important role in civic life but argued they should also lead to measurable political engagement, such as increased voter registration and participation.
Together, the discussion reflected the recurring themes shaping Alabama’s political landscape: culture-war legislation, intensifying primary battles, and the continuing debate over how citizens engage with power and democracy.
