Backers guard Ten Commandments monument

AP | 8/22/03 | BOB JOHNSON

[kattracks]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — About 40 supporters of an Alabama judge's Ten Commandments monument stood watch over it early Friday, hoping to keep anyone from removing it from the rotunda of the state judicial building.

Chief Justice Roy Moore went home after spending much of Thursday vowing to do everything within his power to keep the monument in place. His eight colleagues on the state Supreme Court had ordered the monument taken out early in the day after a federal judge's midnight removal deadline passed.

Moore's supporters kept vigil Friday morning from their sleeping bags and bedrolls strewn across the rotunda floor.

The Rev. Herman Henderson of Believers' Tabernacle in Birmingham opted to nap on the concrete with his head resting on sheet music for the song, "I Shall Not Be Moved."

They remained quiet throughout the night, prompting police to retreat to their post across the street.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson set the midnight deadline after deciding that sitting in the public rotunda, the monument violated the Constitution's ban on government promotion of a religious doctrine. Thompson has said it could be moved to a private place still within the building.

The judge had threatened $5,000-a-day fines if Moore left the monument in the rotunda.

Building manager Graham George was instructed by the state's high court to "take all steps necessary to comply" with the removal order, justice Gorman Houston said. George declined to comment when asked when, how or where the monument would be moved.

Moore condemned his fellow judges for their orders. In their ruling, the Alabama justices stated they were "bound by solemn oath" to uphold the law.

"I will never deny the God upon whom our laws and country depend," Moore said Thursday in defending the 5,300-pound granite marker, which he installed two years ago and contends is representation of the moral foundation of American law.

"Not only did Judge Thompson put himself above the law, but above God as well," Moore told supporters.

The chief justice had appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the removal order, but the court rejected it Wednesday. Moore said Thursday he would file a formal appeal with the high court soon "to defend our constitutional right to acknowledge God."

"I cannot forsake my conscience," he said.

Richard Cohen, an attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center — which sued along with the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State — praised the eight justices.

"Their courageous actions reflect that Justice Moore is a disgrace to the bench and ought to resign or be removed from office," Cohen said.

Still, protesters outside the building said they were willing to stand in the heat and risk arrest for days or weeks to keep the monument inside. Twenty-one were arrested Wednesday night on trespassing charges.

Stephen Hopkins, pastor of Burnet Bible Church in Burnet, Texas, was one of those arrested. He said he was willing to be arrested even though he has 10 children.

"This is a great hypocrisy," Hopkins said. "This is an assault on God. They're saying we're going to cover up God."

[Maelstrom]

They are just following orders.

Their actions aren't related to advancing the Communist goal of removing religion within the US. It's toward the removal of citizens who object to those who do seek to advance that Communist goal.

I would be surprised to hear that there are no Alabama State Troopers who refused to participate in the removal of those protestors, or who sought to be placed on any other sort of task rather than do this act.

I'm very sorry that you don't understand that people advance Communist causes out of ignorance or for motivations other than the advancement of Communism. I think you could be smarter than that if you chose.

[kegler4]

"Disagree completely. The photo of the century will be a close-up of the chisel removing the Ten Commandments."


Sorry, nobody told Moore to take a chisel to the Ten Commandments. They told him to move the stone elsewhere, not destroy it. And if moving that one stone from that one spot destroys the authority of the Ten Commandments...

[Texas_Dawg]

I'm very sorry that you don't understand that people advance Communist causes out of ignorance or for motivations other than the advancement of Communism. I think you could be smarter than that if you chose.

Comparing the state of religious freedom to anything it has ever been in any Communist country is really lame. I do not support the removal of this monument, but as Paul commanded, I submit to the authorities God placed in power save for when they command me to break God's law. My not chaining myself to a stone monument to keep it from being removed hardly meets those guidelines. You on the other hand would have a hard time reconciling your position to Paul's commands in Romans 13:1-9.

[Maelstrom]

One of the first things Communists throughout history have found necessary before introducing their own form of hell is the abolition of religion from public life.

It's a very important vanguard for Communism for reasons I cannot hope you would understand.

I'm not asking you to chain yourself to a stone monument. I'm asking you to step aside so that others might struggle to maintain the freedoms you enjoy.

I struggle to reconcile why you believe my support for religious tolerance is challenged by Romans 13:1-9. For me, this is a Constitutional issue relating to the Rule of Law, religious tolerance, and the right to expression. IT'S NOT A RELIGIOUS EPIPHANY OR AN ATTEMPT TO CONVERT OTHERS.

The presence of that monument is recognition of the fundamental foundation of Law in Western Civilization. The attempt to remove that monument is a representation of the bigotry intolerant anti-Christian forces in the US bring to bear throughout our country.

[Texas_Dawg]

The presence of that monument is recognition of the fundamental foundation of Law in Western Civilization. The attempt to remove that monument is a representation of the bigotry intolerant anti-Christian forces in the US bring to bear throughout our country.

Maybe so, but the courts up and down the line have ruled on this. Break the law fine, but I fully support your being arrested on this one, and I'm the most anti-Communist person you'll ever meet.

[Maelstrom]

If so...the courts are wrong.

Keeping it isn't about religion, removing it is.

[Texas_Dawg]

If so...the courts are wrong.

Remember this next time you are condemning a left-winger for disobeying a court order you agree with.

[Maelstrom]

Sorry, allow me to clarify...keeping it isn't necessarily about religion, but removing it is.

[Maelstrom]

Rember what?

That the Constution's language is plain?

Give me a F8king Break

[Maelstrom]

You remember this yourself...when they come for your guns.

[Texas_Dawg]

Rember what?

And the Alabama Supreme Court and attorney general decided otherwise. Remember you supported breaking the law and disobeying their ruling the next time you see some leftist breaking the law and a court order.

[SerpentDove]

>>Why would an altar be located at a courthouse?<<

You are making a fool of yourself.

[Between the Lines]

For a large detailed picture go to: The Ten Commandments monument in Montgomery, Ala.

[Maelstrom]

Dredd Scott

[Maelstrom]

Name the law.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Interesting.

So what's so different between the gathering rock worshipping hordes in Montgomery and the gathering rock worshipping hordes in Mecca?

[Maelstrom]

There aren't any rock worshipping hordes in Montgomery.

Rock worshipping hordes are in California telling everyone else they're not allowed to bring Bibles to public schools.

Only they call their rocks "crystals"

and they're on your side of this debate in Alabama

[rwfromkansas]

For crying out loud, I attend a church that is so afraid of idolatry we don't even have any flags or a cross.

But, even with my background, it is very clear to me that keeping watch around the Ten Commandments is not worship of them, but is symbolic of a wider culture war.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Throwing yourself down in prostration in front of it, sobbing about it, traveling to that focal point and praying before it looks an awfully lot like it to me - especially since that particular rock has no theological significance within the real dogma of Christianity.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Has anybody told you that you can't own your very own set of 10 Commandments? Read those 10 Commandments you own over and over? Live those 10 Commandments?